PJ Traffic Jam

The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is all set to adopt a new transport management software in August to help plot PJ's public transport needs for the coming decade, theSun reports. According to PJ mayor, Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain, the council has been honing a model since April using PTV Visum and Vissim platforms.

"We have started to create a model to simulate future traffic conditions and incident management system, traffic impact study. This can help us to chart PJ transportation planning," said Azizi. The move is seen as part of the council's masterplan to achieve a 40% public transport ridership by 2030. In a nutshell, the system will simulate future traffic conditions and public transport needs in a specific area.

"The future planning of PJ would work on this. For example, any future development will go through this master software for traffic impact study or traffic condition and can help us chart our public transport plan for a particular area," said Lee Suet Sen of MBPJ's Master Traffic and Urban Transportation Plan committee.

Said platform will also aid the council on matters regarding the use of land in PJ. "The software will help us to decide whether we should have a transportation hub or pedestrian oriented development with the MRT or LRT," the chairman added.

It is also understood that a total of five bus routes have been proposed around PJ hotspots including one that runs from Bandar Utama/Damansara Utama to neighbouring townships. Said move has been touted as a key step in the council's plan to reduce the use of private vehicles, therefore easing up traffic congestion.