Malaysians lose billions in Ringgit due to bad traffic

The traffic congestion in Malaysia has gotten worse post pandemic. Many have pointed out on social media saying even though they leave the house as early as before sunrise, that doesn’t guarantee them a clearer road nor a smoother journey to the office as often times that only means spending an extra hour commuting to work.

6.30 pagi ni pic.twitter.com/Ur9Vi73iWs

— Abah (@chairman_GLC) August 15, 2022

Imagine having to spend hours in the car just to get to work when the time can be used to get other things done. Yeah, that can definitely put someone in a grumpy mood.

Malaysians lose RM10-20 billion every year from being stuck in traffic

The World Bank Malaysia Economic Monitor calculated that Malaysians wasted around 1 million hours of their time on the road in 2015, and the number is expected to have doubled by now. And when experts translate the hours to currency, it shows that Malaysians waste around RM10-20 billion each year just being stuck in the terrible traffic.

The total of RM10-20 billion is a breakdown based on mainly these two factors:

• Fuel – Cars stuck in traffic consume more fuel because your engine is running but you are going nowhere (Side note: Frequent breaking the car consumes a lot of fuel too).
• The monetary value of a person’s time – More time spent in the car that can be used for other stuff, such as working.

With all the noise about road congestion, this is definitely something for an average working Malaysian to consider before getting a car, let alone for those who are just about to kickstart their careers earning cukup-cukup.

Number of Malaysians applying for driving license is starting to decline

If you’ve seen those purple e-scooters around KLCC, we can confidently say that you know of the brand Beam Scooter, a startup that aims to promote the use of micro-mobility by renting e-scooters.

Referring to the press release shared with us from Beam Malaysia, it stated that getting a driver’s license has been on a downward trend around the world and Malaysia is not an exception. From our understanding, we can say that it is because of how inconvenient it can be due to bad traffic, high cost of maintaining a car and the cost of acquiring a driving license.

A quick research on the cost of driving license will make you think twice before applying. We refer to this website that compiled a list of driving schools along with the costs to get the idea of the average price to acquire a driving license in 2022.

1. Metro Driving Academy

• Class D/DA Total Package Cost: RM2,500

2. Sekolah Memandu Rakyat

• Class D Total Package Cost: RM1,600
• Class DA Total Package Cost: RM2,000

3. Unisex Driving Academy

• Class D Total Package Cost: RM1,480
• Class DA Total Package Cost: RM1,580

To summarise, the cost to get a driving license ranges around RM1,600-RM2,500, and this is comparatively expensive as Malaysia’s minimum wage is still at RM1,500.

Malaysians are starting to opt for public transportation and micro-mobility

Thanks to the internet that makes knowledge widely accessible, Malaysians are more aware of the monetary and environmental costs of driving, which is the reason for them to switch to a different mode of transportation, just like the young Malaysian here:

Khairin is a 22-year-old Beam user. She has recently swapped from using her car to Beam e-scooters and public transportation as it is more convenient as compared to having to drive and face the heavy traffic.

“Now that there are Beam e-scooters near me, I am more likely to use Beam, compared to driving my own vehicle, and I am more likely to get rid of my car.” – Khairin, to Beam Malaysia.

With this mounting traffic problem after the MCO was lifted, it is nice to see the government putting in effort to provide quality public transport options to the people in KL and Selangor, especially with the current MRT3 project under operation. However, better implementation to allow e-scooters and other form of micro-mobility still need to be worked on to make existing LRTs and MRTs more accessible from housing areas as the use of e-scooters are still not allowed on public roads.

On an endnote, what about the other states that aren’t as privileged as KL and Selangor? Alternative modes of transportation are still needed for cities all over Malaysia.