Something has to be done with Penang's Milan bus operators. I had many complaints against them and so far yesterday was the worst. Allow me to tell my story so that people are aware of how bad the existing bus service is.
On March 26, at 8.50pm I was at the jetty to board a Milan bus to Sunshine Square. There was this 3-3 bus. There was no one in the bus, and the lights was not on, so I did not board the bus but stood in front of it, waiting for the driver.
At 9pm, the driver got into the bus and switched on the lights, so I boarded the bus with three others passengers. The fare was RM1.90, I gave the driver RM2 and he did not give me any change so I told him the fare was RM1.90, and he had the cheek to say he did not have 10 cents change and sort of told me to take it or leave it!
The bus did not move until it was 9.50pm! Imagine waiting for nearly an hour! I noticed that the driver was waiting for the ferry commuters leaving the ferry to board his bus, hence the delay. He wanted to fill the bus and what better way than to wait for the ferry commuters coming from Butterworth side to Penang who wanted to take the bus. This was not fair to the few of us who had boarded the bus earlier as we had to endure an hour of waiting in the bus.
Okay, that was not the climax of the story. When the bus was at Bukit Jambul, I (with three others) were asked to go down. "Take another bus," the driver said and return me RM1. I was shocked! What another bus, when there was no bus in sight. Further, it was already 10.30pm and the last bus usually ply around 10pm.
I had to get down and wait for a bus which I feared would not be approaching. After 10 minutes, a bus did come but when I boarded it and said I wanted to go to Sunshine Square, I was shocked when the driver said, "No, no! Not going there. Going home already."
What in the world? I was stranded with no bus at all to bring me to my destination. What should I do? Walk back alone in the dark? Take a taxi back? Finally, I had no choice but to call my sister to come and fetch me home in her car.
I am really very angry at how I was treated. The driver acted as though he was king and we bus commuters were at his mercy. Taking his own sweet time to start the bus, knowing that we couldn't do anything as we depended on the bus to take us home. At the jetty, I paid him to take me to Sunshine Square and he accepted it but then I was chased down at Bukit Jambul to take another bus when another bus was not available at all!
Do you think we bus commuters deserve this kind of service? Certainly not! Then why should the government allow them to continue to operate when RapidPenang takes over? They should be given the boot and kicked out from the streets of Penang.
