All local councils in Selangor to have bicycle lanes by next year

PETALING JAYA: Selangor State Senior Executive Councillor for Investment, Industry & Commerce, SMEs & Transportation Datuk Teng Chang Khim revealed that by next year, all the local councils within the Selangor state must each have their own bicycle lane.
Teng explained that the move is meant to increase the usage of bicycles in the local communities as well as increasing the usage of public transportation especially with the ongoing upgradation works on the transport network.
"All the municipal and city councils within the state are required to build a 15km bicycle pathway under the plan while the district councils are required to build only 10km.
"However, I shall leave it to each of the respective local councils to decide where the lane should be and how much is required to provide the lane," Teng told reporters during Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) Smart Selangor Bus New Route launching ceremony earlier today.
To save the cost of building a designated lane for bicycle, Teng then suggested that the lane be created using shared lane system where the designated lane will be painted light blue on normal road.
Meanwhile, Teng also revealed that the state government is in the midst of selecting 50 civil servants working in the state secretariat building as the participants for the Public Transportation Once a Week (PASS) programme they intend to have next year.
"Under this programme, we want to encourage the civil servants who currently drive to work to use public transportation to work instead for at least once a week for the duration of six months.
"Although it is a six month programme, I am sure most of the participants would prefer to use public transportation after three months without any encouragement," Teng explained.
Teng added that although the programme has received overwhelming support from the staff, there are still several conditions that needs to be fulfilled by the applicants.
"Among the conditions are the applicants currently drive to work, they must reside near the LRT or commuter station so that they can easily cycle to the station and board the Smart Selangor Bus to come to the office after they reach the Seksyen 19 KTM Station," Teng said.
He added that state government will subsidise 90% of the foldable bicycle cost with the remaining 10% coming from the participants themselves.