Pay less for parking with Touch 'n' Go card at LRT station

Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn Bhd (RapidKL) will be testing the Touch 'n' Go payment system at Taman Paramount LRT station, Petaling Jaya starting Monday.

Customers using the Touch 'n Go card to pay parking charges can then use the same card when boarding RapidKL's LRT or bus, it said in a statement today.

It said upon exiting the car park on their return, they have to use the same card again to entitle them to a maximum of RM3 a day parking charge.

If the customers use the Touch 'n Go card to pay parking charges but not the RapidKL's LRT or bus fares, they will be charged RM2 for the first one hour and subsequently RM1 per hour for parking.

The payment system is on trial run for three months. The system will be implemented at the other LRT stations if it is successful.

Kelana Jaya, Ampang LRT lines to be extended

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) has proposed two new extensions for the Kelana Jaya and Ampang Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines which are estimated to cost RM7 billion.

Managing Director Datuk Idrose Mohamed said the proposed Ampang LRT line extension will begin from the Sri Petaling Station, passing through Kinrara and Puchong before ending at Putra Heights, covering 17.7km with 13 new stations.

The Kelana Jaya LRT extension will begin from the Kelana Jaya Station, passing through 13 new stations, including Subang Jaya and USJ, before ending at Putra Heights, covering 17km.

Idrose said Prasarana would raise RM4 billion in bonds to part finance the project which is expected to be completed by end of 2012.

All the stations will have facilities such as lifts, escalators, suraus, public phones and toilets.

The stations will also be equipped with facilities for the disabled such as ramps, lifts, tactile tiles, low ticket counters and toilets.

Smart tunnel to be closed on Wednesday night

The Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart) will be closed to all vehicles between 11pm on Wednesday and 6am on Thursday for the maintenance of the tunnel system, Smart said today.

Further enquiries can be made via Smart helpline at 1-300-88-7188. -- BERNAMA

'Spidey' fined RM2,000 for trespassing Petronas Twin Towers

French “Spiderman” Robert Alain Philippe was fined RM2,000 after he pleaded guilty to criminal trespass for scaling the Petronas Twin Towers.

The 47-year-old was fined the amount in default of two months jail at the KL magistrate’s court on Wednesday.

‘Spiderman’ arrested after climbing Twin Towers

French climber Alain Robert, also known as “Spiderman,” was arrested Tuesday after successfully scaling the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, city police confirmed.

Deputy police chief SAC I Abdul Samah Ahmad said the Frenchman was arrested for criminal tresspass.

It was Robert’s third attempt to scale the 88-storey structure, at one time the world’s tallest building.

Robert, clad in a black shirt and trousers, celebrated his ascent by standing with his arms outspread on the pinnacle of one of the towers as a helicopter circled in the misty early morning.

Eyewitnesses said he took less than two hours to complete the climb, and then fixed a Malaysian flag on top of the building, AFP reported.

“He climbed using his bare hands and reached the top very fast ... no security personnel noticed him or stopped him,” said Ee Wee Kiat, a cameraman who was filming the scene from the ground.

Robert first tried to scale the building on March 20, 1997, and made a second unsuccessful attempt in 2007 after which he was freed without charge.

Each time he reached the 60th storey before being intercepted by authorities.

SMART tunnel to be closed on Wednesday night

The SMART tunnel will be closed to all vehicles from 11pm on Wednesday to 6am on Thursday for maintenance of the tunnel’s system.

Charge new fares after calibrating meter, taxi drivers told

Taxi drivers were today warned not to charge the new fares which came into force on Saturday until their vehicle fare meters have been calibrated.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said taxi drivers had been given time up to Dec 31 this year to have their vehicle fare meters calibrated.

"The people are advised to lodge complaints against taxi drivers who charge the new fares without having calibrated their meters," he said after handing out 304 individual taxi and hire car approval letters here. 

He said that up to yesterday 973 taxis had calibrated their meters at the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom) and 2,890 at suppliers, out of the total 29,457 taxis. 

Not all taxis to charge new fares tomorrow

Higher taxi fares come into force tomorrow but not all taxis in this city will be able to charge passengers the new fares, according to two taxi operators associations. 
 
The Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Owners and Drivers Association and the Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Operators Association said the calibration of the meters of all the taxis would not be completed in time. 
 
The new flag-off fare for taxis is RM3, up from RM2, while passengers will be charged 10 sen for every 115m instead of the present 150m. 
 
For taxis caught in a traffic jam, the fare will be RM3 for the first three minutes and 10 sen for every subsequent 21 seconds instead of 45 seconds. 
 
Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Owners and Drivers Association chairman Yeoh Mot Lee said a majority of the taxi operators were expected to retain the existing fare structure because the procedure for getting the approval to charge the new fare was "complicated and time-consuming". 
  
"The government has announced that the taxi fare would be adjusted from tomorrow but taxi operators must first visit the taxi meter supplier to get their meters calibrated with the new fare structure before sending the vehicle to Puspakom for further inspection to obtain the approval for fare adjustment.  
 
"This procedure is expected to take about two weeks to be completed and thus not every taxi operator will have the adjusted fares tomorrow," he told Bernama.

RapidKL to discontinue daily pass system

RapidKL is discontinuing its daily pass system effective Sept 1, and commuters will now be charged according to the number of trips and the zones travelled in a day.

For local (feeder bus) routes, passengers will now be charged RM1 per trip, while for the main routes, the charge is RM1 to RM3 according to the number of zones travelled. There are four zones in all.

Presently, passengers on local and main routes pay RM1 and RM2 respectively for a daily pass, which allows unlimited travel in a day.

To ease the burden of commuters, RapidKL is introducing different types of monthly passes 
>> Local routes only – RM40 per month (new)
>> For all routes (local, city and main) – RM100 (up from RM80)
>> Integrated LRT and bus passes – RM150 (up from RM135)
>> Concession passes for senior citizens, schools kids and disabled persons for all routes – RM50 (new)

Suffian said the new monthly buses passes will be sold from Aug 20 onwards. 

He also announced that from September onwards, those using Touch ‘n’ Go cards to pay fares will no longer be able to do so on RapidKL buses due to upgrading works on the system.