Well actually this fire hydrant is a bus stop, as it evidently says so by marker pen...

Located near the BHP petrol station on Jalan SS 21/54 in Damansara Utama, some kind soul (or perhaps Rapid KL? or MPPJ?) has at least marked this out, where no sign existed before.

Known as a bus stop apparently only through inherited knowledge, i.e. for those who use buses and are "in the know", there is nothing else indicating this location as a bus stop (used by Rapid KL's Area 6 buses and Metrobus #6 and #99, SJ #99 and RMJ minibus #9), much less proper seating, shelter or route information. 

All I want for bus stops are my...

As contributed by KL Commuter:

1. Bus stop-specific spider maps showing destinations of routes passing through this bus stop, ala London.

2. "About bus stop aesthetics, I hope they can do something about it la. Look at all the Putraliner bus stops that have been abandoned after they closed the routes. They are not very nice to look at, and when it rains, water can be easily blown in. Shouldn't we do something like Singapore's? With a wider shade, with incline in one direction and a gutter to collect and drain off the water? <snipped>"

As contributed by Streetwalker:

1.  Please ensure that if bus stops aren't located on a straight part of the road, that they are sited into the curve of roads, rather than
away from the curve. If they are on a straight part of the road, please ensure that seats are diagonalized (serong) for commuters to see oncoming buses. Many times, commuters have to stand up close to the road because they are not able to have a good view.

2. Please ensure a good locus of view towards oncoming buses. Often, there are obstructions such as pillars, plants, street furniture, etc.

3. Besides advertising, bus shelter should include space for bus route information.

4. Most hubs like KL Sentral, Titiwangsa and Warta Lama are split up into different roads and locations. Do ensure connectivity or at least information pointing out to the other stop (on Jalan Batu Caves).

Triton #309 (KL Sentral - Mont Kiara / Pusat Bandar Damansara)

A mercurial route given the operator's somewhat unpredictable management of operations and apparent shortage of buses. Nevertheless, we managed to get estimates of departure times from KL Sentral from its operations manager, as of 13 September 2006. As you can see from below, from morning to noon-ish, it goes all the way to Mont Kiara. From 11:30 to 14:00, it stops short at Pusat Bandar Damansara before turning back to KL Sentral. From 14:00, it goes all the way to Mont Kiara again. Most recent news also is that it doesn't have a last departure from KL Sentral at 18:30 anymore, its last bus now leaving at 17:30. According to the person in charge of operations, there are only a few people who sat this 18:30 bus. It's the whole chicken & egg scenario again...

Departures from KL Sentral - Mont Kiara, via Pusat Bandar Damansara: 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30, 17:30

At the recent dialogue between RapidKL with PJ Utara residents, RapidKL expressed that they planned so that public transport users wouldn't have to walk more than 250 metres. However, a lot of times, one has to walk much more than that amount if one's travel patterns dont' fit into the most common denominator. 

For example, last night I wanted to go to my dance class in Sri Hartamas and although we were told that RapidKL's Local Feeder #220 goes into Desa Sri Hartamas, it didn't and instead did a turn at the Penchala Link, between Aman Kiara and Kiara Hill. Therefore I had to walk about 900 metres to get to the shoplot where my dance class was. Even if I wanted to go to say, Hartamas Square, I would have had to walk about 600 metres. The point therefore is, If RapidKL just planned for just 400 metres, that would make people much happier.

To do that, it would be simple enough to route buses through town centres. Even given the less than effective urban planning in the Klang Valley, most residential areas are still built with neighbourhood/town centres where you would get your local kedai runcit. This would be where you walk to to get your immediate groceries or your dinner if no one's cooking. If one can walk to this neighbourhood centre, then the bus should route to this centre!

RapidKL should realize that you don't need to pick everyone up at their home's doorstep. That is impossible and is even undesirable as you wouldn't want heavy traffic of the bus right outside your house. The best solution would be for local shuttles to run between area centres (the Trunk Line hubs/ LRT stations) and neighbourhood centres, from which commuters may then walk to their homes.