Last Thursday, the 29th of January I arrived in Kuala Lumpur. After a slightly delayed flight I was shortly after that welcomed by my new housemate. He works at Nielsen, where I do my internship and just moved out of his parents house into a new apartment near the office.
Already on my way from the airport to his apartment I realised some key things. The first one is that Kuala Lumpur is not like other Asian cities. It is way more far stretched out. Large living areas separate part of the city centre from each other. This would be fine as if not cars dominate the main method of transport. There is a lack of public transport and private taxi transport. Basically everyone who wants to move about is forced to buy a car or a motorcycle. Other Asian countries, or even larger American cities have plentiful taxis and have a strong public transportation backbone with a metropolitan train system. Except for the LRT, which is a lightrail train (monorail) there is no form of public transport, and the LRT is very limited in reach. So I could take a taxi to a light rail and use that to travel to my work but taxi drivers refuse short trips and I would end up stuck on the LRT station. Right now I still have to figure out a good way to come in to work. So far I have been able to travel to work with my house mate but his unregulated working schedule will make it harder to actually commute to work with him.
Already on my way from the airport to his apartment I realised some key things. The first one is that Kuala Lumpur is not like other Asian cities. It is way more far stretched out. Large living areas separate part of the city centre from each other. This would be fine as if not cars dominate the main method of transport. There is a lack of public transport and private taxi transport. Basically everyone who wants to move about is forced to buy a car or a motorcycle. Other Asian countries, or even larger American cities have plentiful taxis and have a strong public transportation backbone with a metropolitan train system. Except for the LRT, which is a lightrail train (monorail) there is no form of public transport, and the LRT is very limited in reach. So I could take a taxi to a light rail and use that to travel to my work but taxi drivers refuse short trips and I would end up stuck on the LRT station. Right now I still have to figure out a good way to come in to work. So far I have been able to travel to work with my house mate but his unregulated working schedule will make it harder to actually commute to work with him.