Since Covid-19 rules eased up, Malaysians found themselves stuck in incredulously bad traffic jams day-to-day.
And it’s no surprise why… As there are more vehicles registered than people in the country!
33.3 million vehicles vs 32.6 million people
Over the years, Malaysia’s population saw an average increase of 158,000 people in 2018-2021. However, the average increase for registered vehicles in the past 4 years is a whopping 540,000!
That’s 3.4 times more than the population’s increase!
Of the 33.3 million vehicles registered:
- 47.3% are cars
- 46.6% are motorcycles
- The rest are buses, taxis, lorries and others.
As observed in the table above, the increase in registered vehicles far outnumbers the rise in number of people in Malaysia – with 2020 seeing the largest margin of all.
Public transport not prioritised enough?
However, 1 week ago, KTMB’s CEO says the congestion in Malaysia is getting worse due to citizens not taking the public transport.
This statement drew a ton of backlash as fellow Malaysians challenged the CEO to take the KTM himself.
Others highlighted how unreliable our public transport system is, with some comparing ours to Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan.
Since the discussion, many came up with alternative solutions to ease Klang Valley’s congestion, which you can read here.
We sincerely hope that our policy makers would take note of the worsening traffic jams before it gets even worse. Otherwise, we might be able to compare ourselves to Bangkok’s or worse, Jakarta’s day-to-day standstill traffic.
Also read: Malaysian Breaks Down How Inefficient Our Public Transport System Really Is
