Rapid Penang Bus Service Experience

Something about the new Rapid Penang Bus Services excites us. We are no doubt intrigued to see how well our public transport works. At the same time, I wanted to find an alternative way to work as we share one car in the family. Thankfully, the location of the bus routes are located within walking distance from both home and workplace. 

Before waking up half an hour earlier for my first venture, I made a call to Rapid Penang the day before to check on the bus time schedule and routes. My call was promptly answered and they could only commit on the frequency of buses passing by every half an hour. No fix time given. Fair enough. Off I went and indeed my wait was less than half hour when bus 401 arrived at my stop which leads to the Penang Airport through the Bayan Lepas Industrial Area.
 

First impression was good. The bus looked brand new as though it just drove off from the production floor. I paid my RM2.00 and chose a seat at the last row. There's slightly less room space for my lanky legs, but the seats were clean, in order and comfortable. There seemed to be more standing room capacity than sitting down, which can be useful for mothers who need to bring along their babies in the stroller. However, I'm not sure if the bus has the feature of lowering its suspension at the door entrance for easier access of wheel chairs & strollers in / out of bus. A glance at the passengers made me felt like a minority in my home country as most of them looked like foreigners. Along the journey, the bus stopped at several more points to pick up passengers before finally arriving at my stop. Bells are conveniently located along the pathway, and within my arm's reach.

Overall, I find the journey pleasant and impressed by the squeaky clean appearance of the bus. Not to mention arriving every half hour as committed. Next we need now is a fixed time schedule :) Anyhow, it is two thumbs up for Rapid Penang!

Note: There's now a pocket map of all the bus routes within Penang that you can get from the bus drivers or download it from Rapid Penang site or be a Rapid Penang Facebook fan to get updates.