THE Smart Selangor bus service has seen drastic increase in the number of people commuting on the free buses.

Statistics for the first six months of the year revealed that the number of commuters who travelled in the buses had equalled the number for the whole of last year.

Selangor Small and Medium Industries and Transportation Committee chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim said 4.13 million commuters used the service last year, and the figure for the first six months of this year was 4.12 million.

He said the free bus service that started in July 2015 in Klang, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya, had 546,000 commuters up to December 2015.

“The recent statistics revealed that the services implemented at all the 12 local council areas in the state, is gaining popularity.

“We have 52 buses plying on 14 routes in various parts of the state,” said Teng at the launch of the Route 2 Smart Selangor bus in Klang, which will cover areas in North Klang to complement Route 1 that covered areas in Klang South.

Based on the overwhelming response, Teng expected the number of commuters to surpass eight million by the end of the year.

Furthermore, he said, the state would hire the services of an additional 44 buses from Rapid KL by next month.

“More buses will help serve more commuters and I can only see the numbers growing beyond expectations.

“The state has allocated RM20mil this year to hire the services of the buses. The local authorities are also contributing depending on their financial capacity,” he said

Teng expects the number of buses to reach the 100 mark.

He said the free bus service was aimed at serving the needy who were affected by the increasing cost of living and the uncertain economic climate.

He said the bus service was introduced with hopes of reducing the burden of those from the lower income group and working class citizens who were struggling.

“The air-conditioned buses come with CCTV for security, are disabled friendly, and even offer free WiFi,” he said, adding that the smart buses covered high-density routes with schools, markets and townships.

On the notion that most of the commuters of the smart buses were foreigners, Teng said Smart bus drivers said foreigners comprised only 10% of the total number of commuters.

“Soon, the buses will be installed with censors to tabulate the number of commuters so that we will have more accurate statistics.

“This will also relieve the drivers from taking a manual count of the commuters,” he said.