Riding A Bus in Kuching

At last I took a bus ride in Kuching, the first ever since my arrival to this city in late 1996. It was a smooth ride, with the driver acts as the conductor (in the old days a person use to walk all around the bus to issue tickets and collect fares from passengers boarding at various stops) and as usual, the bus did not display the destination but mere numbers. The number indicated the same bus number to my residential area, but little did I know it was going to by-pass. I boarded at the hospital bus stop, was told that it was heading to a different destination. I paid a dollar to stop at the nearest stopover to my residence and I walked home which was good exercise in the morning.

I have been commenting on this bus service to friends and comparing them to places I've been living like KL and Miri. At best, Kucing bus service should emulate Miri experience. I used to enjoy that part of public transport in Miri and it had been a decade since I move to Kuching, still the bus service is somehow lousy and poorly scheduled. I wish the "consortium whatsoever" providing the service be smart and venturers enough to replace the fleet with new medium sized buses or coasters that can provide much more frequent trips and conduct thorough study for better routes of the service. Kuching city deserves world class service, not merely increase fares for just airconditioning your old buses and fuel surcharge or every time the govertment announce a pay rise for the poor public servant like me.