Tuesday May 26, 2009
By LEE YUK PENG

THE bus ticketing counter at the KL International Airport will be next to the limousine counter at the main terminal, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz.

Nazri said this was to give the bus operator a fair chance of getting passengers as the taxi service operators.

The Airport Coach Sdn Bhd's counter was previously located on the lower ground floor of the main terminal.

Owner of Airport Coach Sdn Bhd Khalid Ali said a meeting held between ministers and bus operators last week, discussed the issue of unfair treatment and double standard.

He told the minister that even at the KL Sentral, his staff were stationed in a van to sell bus tickets to passengers to KLIA as they did not have a booth.

"Why can't we have a fair level playing ground and let the passengers decide whether they want to take a taxi, a bus or an Express Rail Link (ERL)?

"We too want to offer good service to passengers and wipe out the touts menace," Khalid said, adding that airports in Britain and Germany make bus service one of the options for passengers.

A check at the KL Sentral showed that his staff were stationed in a van alongside with the booths of Skybus and Aerobus. Both buses travel to the LCCT.

G. Segaran, a supervisor of Airport Coach, said they had been operating from a van since moving from the Jalan Duta bus terminal to KL Sentral three years ago.

Kwan Ngar Man, an engineer from Hong Kong working here since last year and Zulkifli Mohd Yusof, a Malaysian Airport Bhd (MAB) employee, take a bus to KL International Airport regularly.

Kwan, who also commutes to the airport via ERL, said he would opt for the bus, which costs RM10 per trip from KL Sentral to KLIA, whenever he has time.

As for Zulkifli who travels to the KLIA daily, it means saving a lot of money.

"I used to spend RM300 travelling on the ERL on a discounted rate, I still think that is too expensive," he said.

This article is a verbatim copy of the original article from The Star.