By Nur Ashikin Louis and Ling Hui
KOTA SAMARAHAN, Dec 16: Sarawak’s capital city aspires to transform its public transportation system through Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) to be similar to that of the London Underground system in England, says Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He noted that the newly-launched Phase 1 of the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) project consists of three urban lines, namely the Blue Line — a 27.6km route from Rembus in Kota Samarahan to Hikmah Exchange in Kuching city centre; Red Line — a 12.3km route from Kuching Sentral to Pending; and Green Line — a 30km route from Pending to Damai Central in Santubong.
“I first learned about such red and green lines when I was in London. When using public transport in London, we used the London Underground (system), which has various coloured lines. Now Kuching has it too, just like London.
“If there are tourists coming to Kuching, they go, ‘You makei ne tek? Red line? (What line are you using? Red line?)’ and the other answers ‘red line juak (I am using red line too)’.
“Then they will say (Kuching’s public transport) is just like London, and indeed, we are similar to London. That is how our position will be elevated, and we want to become a developed State in Malaysia by 2030. This is our plan,” he said at the launching of Phase 1 of the KUTS Project held at the proposed site for Rembus Depot in Kota Samarahan today.
He also mentioned that the second phase of the KUTS project would see the ART system be extended to Serian and connected to Gedong, while the third phase, which involves the areas of Samalaju and Kidurong in Bintulu, is currently under the planning stage.
For the record, the London Underground or known as the ‘Tube’, is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire in England.
The network has 11 lines in total which the Londoners would identify by colours, namely Bakerloo line (brown), Central line (red), Circle line (yellow), District line (green), Hammersmith and City line (pink), Jubilee line (grey), Metropolitan line (magenta), Northern line (black), Piccadilly line (dark blue), Victoria line (light blue), and Waterloo and City line (turquoise). — DayakDaily
