Wifi your way all the way to Balik Pulau and back!

by bus (using Rapid Penang's 401A-airport route) that is...

Off the Star / Bernama: Free WiFi on Rapid Penang buses

GEORGE TOWN: Rapid Penang Sdn Bhd will be providing free WiFi access to its passengers, the first bus company in the country to do so, beginning with a three-month trial on two buses.

Its chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad said the company was installing the facility in two buses: The first plies the route between Balik Pulau and the Bayan Lepas International Airport, and the second on the Teluk Bahang-Batu Feringgi-Weld Key route.

He said use of the WiFi facility would be free and that the buses would have special stickers for easy identification by passengers.

“After three months, if response from passengers is good, we’ll have the facility installed in stages in all of our 180 buses, and also the additional 200 buses which will be delivered to us by the end of the year,” he told a press conference here Wednesday.

Azhar said the facility was provided to enable passengers to surf the Internet in the bus before arriving at their destinations. -- Bernama ("WiFi Facility In RapidPenang Buses"

Simpang Tiga Maut Taman Sri Indah

Lebih kurang jam 10.30 malam tadi (Isnin 19 OGOS 2008), terdengar bunyi perlanggaran kenderaan yang begitu kuat dari simpang tiga ngeri yang hanya kurang daripada 20 meter tempat saya baru nak menikmati mee goreng mamak (di Restoran 24-jam Taman Sri Indah). Saya pasti ianya satu lagi kemalangan yang hampir sama dengan beberapa kemalangan yang sama di situ - sebuah kenderaan menghala masuk ke Taman Sri Indah dan sebuah lagi pasti meluncur laju dari arah Kongsi ke arah Simpang Empat Genting di barat daya.

Kurang daripada tujuh bulan yang lalu, saya sendiri menjadi mangsa simpang tiga 'berhantu' ini - kurang daripada sesaat membezakan kecederaan kecil dan kecederaan parah/maut bagi saya apabila dilanggar sebuah kereta meluncur laju ketika saya menunggang motosikal.

Puluhan orang ramai yang sedang berehat atau membeli-belah di kedai-kedai berdekatan terus bergegas di tempat kejadian, menghulurkan bantuan kepada kedua-dua mangsa serba-sedikit. Dari jauh, kelihatan dua buah motosikal yang hancur berderai. Khabarnya dan kelihatannya, kedua-dua motosikal tersebut baru lepas berlanggar depan sama depan. Kedua-dua penunggang motosikal berasingan terbaring di jalan raya, mengerang nampaknya kerana kesakitan yang amat. Pak Cik berumur dalam lingkungan umur 50-an parah di bahagian kaki, dan pemuda dalam lingkungan umur 20-an terbaring berlumuran darah di kepala.

Kurang daripada lima minit kemudian, siren ambulan kedengaran dan sebuah van tiba membawa paramedik dari Hospital Balik Pulau yang terletak kurang daripada dua kilometer dari tempat kejadian, yang terus mengusung "pak cik" dengan kereta roda. Mangsa kedua ditinggalkan buat sementara waktu untuk diambil dalam 'trip' kedua. Kedua-dua mangsa nampak masih hidup, tapi, parahnya kecederaan mereka hanya akan diketahui selepas pemeriksaan doktor di wad kecemasan Hospital Balik Pulau.

Banyak sebab kenapa kemalangan sebegini terus berulang di tempat yang sama, melalui senario yang hampir sama setiap kali. Tapi nampaknya tiada tindakan positif daripada pihak berkuasa selama bertahun-tahun lamanya. Kawasan simpang tiga di Jalan Balik Pulau tersebut cukup gelap dengan lampu jalan yang tidak berfungsi, termasuk beberapa lampu-lampu jalan yang lain yang begitu malap atau langsung tidak berfungsi, walaupun jalan tersebut cukup dekat dengan Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Barat Daya (kedua terbesar di Pulau Pinang) - kurang daripada sekilometer, tapi lebih 20 minit selepas kemalangan tadi, masih tak kelihatan langsung seorang pun pegawai polis di tempat kejadian -- khabarnya hampir semua pegawai polis dikerahkan ke Permatang Pauh di Seberang Perai (sama ketika saya mengalami kemalangan di situ - tak seorang polis pun yang datang menjenguk!).

Malah ada pejabat-pejabat operasi politik untuk kedua-dua 'parti pemerintah' Barisan Nasional dan pembangkang Pakatan Rakyat di rumah-kedai Taman Sri Indah - apakah pemimpin-pemimpin politik Balik Pulau tidur, atau terlalu sibuk dengan kegamatan di Permatang Pauh sampai lupa tempat sendiri? Sampai bila penduduk di situ wajar terus menunggu sehingga lampu-lampu jalan diperbaiki atau ditambahkan lampu trafik? (atau dibuangkan terus pembahagi jalan yang menghalang kenderaan-kenderaan mengelak ketika keadaan terdesak).

Apa perlu lebih banyak kemalangan ngeri dan meragut nyawa berlaku baru wakil-wakil rakyat dan jabatan kerajaan terbabit nak buat sesuatu? Apakah pihak polis (trafik) akan terus membisu dan akan terus berpeluang meminta wang suap setiap kali kemalangan berkomplikasi sebegini berlaku?

RM700m Penang Tower in Balik Pulau?

Yes, old news... but I wonder what happened to the proposal?

Nation
Sunday November 20, 2005


RM700m tower proposed for Penang

BY NG SU-ANN

PENANG: A proposal has been made to build a RM700mil “smart tower” like the Kuala Lumpur Tower on Pondok Upeh Hill in Balik Pulau here.

Balik Pulau MP Datuk Dr Hilmi Yahaya said it would house the world's first revolving hotel, a revolving restaurant, meeting rooms and telecommunication facilities.

“The proposal was submitted to the state early this year by a group of local and foreign investors.

“I hope the state will consider it as soon as possible,” he told reporters after opening the Koperasi Pelancongan Pulau Pinang Berhad's (Kopel) annual general meeting at the P. Ramlee House yesterday.

Dr Hilmi, who is also the Finance Ministry parliamentary secretary, said to avoid cutting trees to make a road up the hill, the proposed cable car system linking Penang Hill and Teluk Bahang should also be linked to the tower.

He also urged the state to make the system more comprehensive by providing links to Balik Pulau and Relau, instead of merely between Penang Hill and Teluk Bahang.

Originally from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/20/nation/12648637&sec=nation
(article no longer made available for public access by publisher)

The New Balik Pulau (Part II?)

No names like "Bandar Baru Balik Pulau (3BP)" (New Balik Pulau Town) have been thrown in yet, but Balik Pulau has clearly been embracing massive development all these years (read the first blog post on this site dated 7apr07), and to top these development, this month beginning 1 DEC 2007, BP folks get to flock every morning at a brand new RM17M public market complex -- the largest of its kind in the Malaysian state of Penang (after several postponements dated since Sept 2007, perhaps due to refusal by the traders at the old market to move after a very short notice). The new market complex and vicinity hosts a new wet market, MPPP district office, bill payment centre, food & drink stalls, bazaar shops (I managed to get a haircut at Khairi's, the only barber in the complex so far), Pasar Tani site (every Sunday), bus hub, shoplots (to be opened in early 2008), new low-cost housing flat (to open soon) and terrace houses (pending final construction works).

I first spotted the news about the new market in mid this year, hence a blog post on 3may07. Not too long afterwards, on 12may07 to be exact, we started hearing about the new Rapid Penang (a cousin to RapidKL, wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia) bus hub coming to Balik Pulau at the same spot as the new market. After passing the heavy-in-construction zone for so many times, I finally had the chance to capture the view of the new amenities for Penang on 15jun07, including having an aerial view of the zone from a hill peak near Relau Hill Forest Reserve, which had been renovated during mid this year and named "Anjung Indah". Not long afterwards, by end of June applications are being accepted for the stalls in the Balik Pulau complex.

Soon later, by end of July, the long awaited Rapid Penang bus service and one of its major hubs that is to be located next the new Balik Pulau market, is all ready for launch for the first week of Aug 2007 when an MP from Balik Pulau, Dato Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya was spotted on 29 Aug '07 in Kongsi Town distributing the Rapid Penang flyers. The next day, NCER officially arrives in four northern states of Malaysia including Penang and the northern half of Perak. Two weeks later, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was back in Penang (in addition to his occasional trips for Umno and Eid events, as hosted by Dr Hilmi) to officiate the two-year KKTM, the RM152-million higher learning institute for skills and talent training located at Simpang Empat/Genting, near MARA and Umno district office.

Today, I finally had a chance to check out the new market complex in operation, together with Pasar Tani on its new site situated next to the market complex/Rapid Penang bus terminal. If my prior trip got me the photos of the empty buidings, today, my new set of photos capture the buildings and surrounding areas filled with people, although not many enough yet I suppose (many of these low-rental stalls are even yet to open three weeks since the complex started operating). Check 'em out here:



And it's not over... So far, we've welcome a new police HQ (IPDBD), mosque (al-Mokhtar), colleges (KKTM, ICT etc.), schools (Teknik etc.), bus terminal (Rapid Penang), market complex, sports complex and soon we'll welcome a tourism university (yes, the big U!), more IPTA & IPTS (higher learning institutions, private and public), national/global brand shops (we only have ONE, not including banks: 7-eleven!), better roads via Genting (to Batu Maung/Bayan Lepas -- it's just too long to reach the airport or the upcoming Second Penang Bridge now!), more broadband (wi-fi) hotspots, more industrious workplaces, among others...

Better economy and social development for the town? I'd be just fine with if 3.5G/HSDPA would reach this part of the island, and the good eateries for tomyam, nasi kandar, and ais kacang stay... Perhaps, better e-commerce in Malaysia too, or I'd have to keep dreaming to see a Tesco/Carrefour/Walmart hypermarket on this part of the island.

Balik Pulau to Air Itam in one ride, finally...

The good news in the Star today last weekend...

Rapid Penang to ply two more routes

By DERRICK VINESH

BUTTERWORTH: Rapid Penang will extend its network by two more routes - Balik Pulau - Air Itam on the island and Kepala Batas - Pinang Tunggal - on the mainland, effective tomorrow.

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the new routes were aimed at providing better services to the people.

“The provision of an efficient, effective and comprehensive public transport system in Penang is our main objective,'' he said after opening a micro finance centre at BSN Bagan Ajam here yesterday.

Presently, Rapid Penang has 33 routes on the island and mainland.

Nor Mohamed said he was very happy with the performance of Rapid Penang since its buses hit Penang roads on Aug 1.

“Someone asked me for how long would Rapid Penang buses continue to be clean. And, my reply was that it would be forever.

“We have full-time cleaners to keep the buses clean at the Weld Quay depot. The lightings inside the buses are also bright to promote a safe atmosphere,” the minister said.

On the ticket price war among private bus operators in Penang, Nor Mohamed said: “That is quite normal. As long as the alternative bus services are comfortable and meet the people’s needs, we are happy.”

The other two bus companies, Milan and KGN also reportedly reduced their fares since the 'colonization' by Rapid Penang.