…my cuppa iced coffee…

NOT!!!

Seriously… the whole convenience thingy went down the drain (a.k.a. Sungai Gombak/Klang) in a blink of an eye the moment I saw the queues at the gates of Masjid Jamek STAR lrt station increased from the previous mile to 2.

Frankly speaking, when RapidKL announced in April 2010 that they were going to stop the use of the manual monthly pass and replace it with the Rapid Pass Touch ‘n Go (TNG), I immediately thought, “This is going to be hell.” And voilla! Right on the bull’s eye, I was.

How many people commute on a daily basis using the lrt, either PUTRA or STAR? Hundreds of thousands. 

How many TNG gates are there at each of the lrt station? PUTRA line, no problem. The stations even have dedicated gates for TNG. STAR line? I can only shake my head.

Take for example the Masjid Jamek STAR station. There are 10 gates on each platform (to Ampang/Sri Petaling and to Sentul Timur). Half of them are for entry and the other half for exit. Out of this half, 4 have TNG card readers. And out of these 4, not all of them are working. Sometimes only 2. To top it off, there’s no dedicated TNG gates like the ones they have at PUTRA line. It’s really very very annoying when you were in front of the gate, ready to get out, when you discovered that the card reader was faulty and you had to join the next queue right at the back.

So where does that leave you for convenience?

Right down the Sungai Gombak/Klang, as I said earlier. You waste so much time queueing at the gates waiting to get out or in when using the manual pass, you would’ve walked through the gate in a jiffy.

In short, here are what I think of this Rapid Pass TNG thingy (and other related matters):

1. It’s very obvious that whoever came up with this idea is not a commuter. Which, of course, is not really a surprise in Malaysia where the decision-makers are usually not the users. They probably never use public transport in their whole lives.
2. The whole idea was not thought of thoroughly. Convenience? Yeah, my ass. Somebodies’ bank accounts probably went up a few millions, with no real thought whatsoever on the impact to the commuters.
3. Are there 2 separate management teams under RapidKL for the STAR and PUTRA lines? It seems to me that more improvements were made to PUTRA while STAR remains like… that. Putting roofs over the stations does not count since it has no impact whatsoever to the services.
4. The frequency of the STAR line, particularly in the evening, between 6 – 8 pm, really really sucks. Surely you, the staff of RapidKL, can see that the platforms are jam packed with people, with hardly any space for them to queue up? Enlarging the platforms will not help. Ask anyone and I can guarantee you that the common answer would be “MORE TRAINS !!”
5. I applaud the effort of RapidKL to improve their services, even though some glitches still happen especially in the morning when people are on their ways to work. My advice is… the improvements should be planned for now AND the future. Installing 4-coach trains within 2 years will not help much since the problem is NOW and that within 2 years, the number of people using the lrts would probably double.
6. Please please please do NOT stop the use of manual lrt pass. It is much much much more preferable than the Rapid Pass TNG. A survey should have been done before the implementation. You would’ve known then what the people really want.

Those are all I can think of now. I’m sure a lot of lrt users out there agree with me. If you have other items to add, feel free to include them here. I’m just thankful that I was able to buy the manual pass for June yesterday.

The second day saw the final category of the tournament: Team Event. Etiqa was the title holder for this event for 2 years in a row and this year, the defending champion was seeking to make it a hat trick. 2 male and 2 female bowlers were required to form a team and Etiqa was represented by Sheerzan, Azman, Mahani and Salbiah.

At the end of the first game, Etiqa was in third place (with a total score of 650), behind Wilayah Persekutuan (673) and Pahang (671). The team picked up the pace tremendously in the second game, scoring 782, a long way in front of Menara Maybank who was in second place with a score of 708. This also put Etiqa first in ranking after 2 games.

Etiqa continued to soar in the third game, scoring 721. With a total of 2,159 pinfalls, Etiqa has successfully defended the Team Event champion title for the third time in a row. Congratulations! The supporters went wild with elation even before the the final scores were up on the scoreboard.

It was also doubly sweet when the win of the Team Event has effectively confirmed that Etiqa was also the Overall Champion of Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010. Well done, guys and girls! You sure make Etiqa proud.

Ombak! Ombak! Ombak!

Here are the results for each of the categories contended:

Overall results:

___________________________________

Related post:

• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 1
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 2
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 3
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 4

3 Etiqa male bowlers and all female bowlers qualified to the Masters event, which started right after the completion of the Women’s Double category. Etiqa was currently first in the running for the Overall Champion title, with Pulau Pinang and Menara Maybank following closely at 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

While not very much was expected from the male bowlers, the hope was high that more points would be collected from the ladies.

At the end of the Men’s Masters event, Etiqa was pleasantly surprised when Sheerzan obtained 4th place overall, considering the very tough challenges put forth by the other bowlers. Azman and Redza did not do very well, however, when both only managed to rank 9th and 28th respectively.

Alas… it was such a big disappointment for the ladies when none of them finished in the top 7 and contributed more points to Etiqa.

Etiqa now has 44 points, 8 points ahead of Pulau Pinang (36) and 10 points ahead of Menara Selangor (34), from 6 categories. There is only one more left: Team event. Let’s hope Etiqa will fly high and win this category.

___________________________________

Related post:

• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 1
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 2
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 3
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 5

The third and fourth categories were Men’s Double and Women’s Double. Each of the bowlers has to play another 3 games of which the individual total will be added to the single’s score to determine whether he or she will qualify for the Masters category.

For the Masters event, top 32 men and top 24 women will qualify. Every male and female bowler will respectively play 9 games and 6 games each.

For the Men’s Double category, Sheerzan was paired with Tajuddin and Redza with Azman. The scores were not very encouraging, even for Sheerzan who won the Men’s Single title earlier. So, for Men’s Double, Sheerzan-Tajuddin pair only managed to get number 9, while Azman-Redza number 11.

It was a happy occasion initially when all Etiqa male bowlers were listed as top 32. After a recount, however, Tajuddin (who was sharing number 32 overall with a bowler from team Maybank Investment Bank) sadly did not qualify when the other guy’s score was higher in the single category. So for the Masters qualifying event, Sheerzan was ranked 5, Azman 21 and Redza 22.

For the Women’s Double category, Mahani was paired with Mastura and Salbiah with Salwa. The ladies played brilliantly, with Salbiah-Salwa pair to be the champion and Mastura-Mahani pair number 4. Well done, ladies!

All Etiqa female bowlers qualified for the Masters event where Salbiah was ranked 1st in the qualifying list, while Mahani, Salwa and Mastura were number 5, 11 and 16 respectively. Again, well done, ladies!

Etiqa now has enough points to be the main contender for the Overall Champion title, currently leading at 40 points followed by Menara Maybank with 22 points. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that the title will be in our hands this year.

___________________________________

Related post:

• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 1
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 2
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 4
• Maybank Bowling Tournament 2010 – Update 5