near Maharajalela Station
Station Entrance at KL Sentral. June 2015
From new, to normal, to retro
When we lived in Jakarta and Singapore, Kuala Lumpur was growing by leaps and bounds, but the real downer about visiting was the same issue that Jakarta and Bangkok both suffered from at the time - getting around was a hassle. Taxis in those cities were a rip off and the traffic could be terrible. For that reason, I didn't visit Kuala Lumpur nearly as often as I visited Penang which was still small and quite manageable. Then KL built its first non-bus, public transportation - a futuristic monorail!
As a bonus, the monorail started down by the KL Sentral Railway Station and passed close by nearly all the city's main attractions of the day. Additionally, one of the best bus companies plying the route from Singapore to KL used KL Sentral as its arrival/departure point which meant it was possible to arrive by luxury, express bus from Singapore and get on the monorail to travel to a hotel (most likely in the Bukit Bintang area) avoiding traffic and taxi hassles. Suddenly, the city became more visitable and I found myself going for weekends.
The trajectory of the KL Monorail's use and public perception followed the same curve as other cities. When I first started using it - it was virtually riderless in a city that was unused to the idea of modern public transport (except buses) AND the fares were comparatively expensive. Over time, inflation caught up to the fares and KL also built some bona fide light rail lines. The Monorail was integrated into the urban rail system and became packed, especially during rush hour. The tiny, formerly uncrowded cars were jammed with people à la Tokyo and there was a real risk of being pick-pocketed. And, Malaysia and KL continued to develop so that even the monorail eventually became outmoded. Now the monorail is about 20 years old and is almost seen as quaint. It is still heavily used, but not nearly as crazily as at its peak. I always smile to myself when I remembered its first years of operation as a white elephant with virtually zero riders. Now KL residents love their little monorail that is just starting to show its age.
Why do I say "similar trajectory"? I also arrived in Dubai shortly after the opening of the metro there. MWK and I enjoyed riding the metro virtually alone for the first few years until the city caught up with its use. After it caught on, the Dubai metro seemingly never had any down time at all. It was packed morning to night. What the future holds for the Dubai Metro is unknown. Will it become slightly anachronistic and "cute" as the KL Monorail, or will it morph into a heavily used (and perhaps downtrodden) component of the public transport system like New York City's subway or London's Tube? Even the DC Metro started life very slowly and underused. Whatever the case, when traveling to a city with a new public transport link, best to use it right away - the future is seemingly always more crowded and less pleasant.
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