THE Penang Ratepayers Association (PRA) wants the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) to offer free stage bus service to several secondary schools in a bid to reduce the worsening jams here.
The proposal was floated during a recent dialogue with the MBPP president and George Town Lord Mayor Datuk Anthony Rajendran, stressing that a solution should be forthcoming.
Penang recorded 167 road fatalities in the first five months of the year, with motorcyclists making up the vast majority of the victims.
Data released by the police highlighted that this period alone saw a staggering 23,534 accidents across the state.
PRA president Lee Kim Noor said that schools along the strategic routes such as Gottlieb Road, Green Lane, Bayan Baru, Air Itam and parts of George Town can become pick-up points for free Rapid Penang CAT service buses during dismissal hours.
The students can then be ferried to convenient pick-up points for ride-sharing service providers or parents to pick up.
Security personnel need to be based at both the schools and pick-up points to ensure both the safety and security of students, teachers and parents, Lee said.
She suggested that the open areas at the Lotus hypermarkets in E - Gate and Tanjong Tokong can serve as convenient pick-up points for parents rather than the present centralised gathering in the schools, which clogged up an already bottleneck situation.
She said that the daily dismissal hours and extracurricular activities in schools such as Penang Chinese Girls High School, Penang Free School, Convent Green Lane, Han Chiang and Chung Ling Boys High School have further complicated the congestion rate.
"There is a need for an out-of-the-box solution to the traffic woes in Penang, especially if the ratepayers need to put up with additional roadworks due to the infrastructure being in place."
Lee said that there must also be a renewed campaign by the local authorities to offer public transport from ride-sharing services to the Rapid Penang stage bus service, as a better alternative than driving personal vehicles.
She also suggested that out-of-state road users from Kedah and Perak be allowed to park their vehicles at a convenient location before boarding public transport into the state.
The congestion rate in Penang is expected to worsen over the next five years, as the state strives to complete the Mutiara Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, which is only expected to be completed by 2031, as well as the reclamation of the Silicon Island off Batu Maung. - October 20, 2026.