SHAH ALAM, Aug 27 — The Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) plans to repurpose around 200 inactive bus shelters, including converting them into kiosks or stalls.
Shah Alam Mayor Dato’ Zabidah Safar said the proposal was among the matters discussed during the Bus Shelter Coordination and Management Workshop in July, after over 900 bus shelters were identified across the city.
“When MBSA approved the Planning Permission, we had already stipulated that bus shelters be provided. However, after the developments were completed and residents began moving in, bus operators found that there was not yet a need to operate routes through these areas.
“That need may arise in the future when demand increases; we have more than 900 bus shelters in Shah Alam, and 200 of them are inactive. We plan to turn them into stalls, particularly at locations that are spacious and suitable,” she said during a media conference after the MBSA meeting today.
Zabidah added that around 700 of the remaining bus shelters are still active and served by bus routes, while some of the inactive shelters have also been proposed as pick-up and drop-off points for e-hailing services.
MBSA is also standardising the names of all bus shelters to ensure that the names used in the Rapid system and local authority transit apps are consistent.
“If users are referring to the same bus shelter, its name should not be different. Therefore, we are standardising the names,” she said.
The effort also involved the Public Works Department (JKR), as some bus shelters were built on JKR reserves in addition to roads under MBSA’s jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the local authority is seeking views from public transport user associations to identify the features and facilities users need.
Zabidah said the feedback is important to ensure that bus shelters still in use provide greater comfort, while also helping to determine suitable functions for shelters that were no longer active.
“The process of updating the names, coordinating, and coding the bus shelters is still underway and is expected to be finalised around November.
“This coordination will facilitate management and maintenance, while also helping users obtain accurate information about the locations of bus shelters,” she said.
