My own apartment is near the Johan Setia LRT Station, in fact, I bought the apartment after the LRT3 started to build. Another reason I bought the house there during that time was because it was around 7km to my workplace. Well, I thought I would retire there, life happened and now I worked in Petaling Jaya. To avoid jam, I would leave my place before 6am and back home after 7pm. It was tiring. Sometimes, even after 7pm, the road was still packed with cars. Anyway, my apartment was built later than the LRT3 and I have been staying in my apartment for few years and finally, LRT3 aka LRT Shah Alam finally opened to public!
The week before, I already got the advise from a colleague who frequently took public transport, she advised me to download the 'moovit' app. I found it quite useful.
On the very first day of the opening 29th June, I woke up much earlier and went to the LRT Johan Setia, It was new and not much information available yet. There are 550 car parks available in LRT Johan Setia. That's the only information I got, When I reached there, there were cars but many parking lots were still empty. Generally, it's well-lit.
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| cark park in LRT Johan Setia |
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| Car Park in LRT Johan Setia |
Since I didn't know anything yet, after parking, I rushed to the main door.
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| walkway to LRT Johan Setia |
To my surprise, there're a few fellow commuters there and all waiting outside, the gate was still closed! I asked around and they told me the gate would only open at 6am. I was like, what! From what I read, the first train would start at 6am, and gate opened at 6am? How're we supposed to board the first train on time! A fellow commuter told me he purposely took leave to board this first train out of Johan Setia, and another commuter purposely drove from Bukit Tinggi to take the train at the first station. To my surprise, other than a few people who purposely came for fun. Others were like me, really intended to take LRT to work.
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| gate to LRT Johan Setia |
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| inside the LRT Johan Setia |
At around 6am, the gate opened, and I think the staffs inside had a countdown. Anyway, everybody rushed inside. However, the first train started around 6.05am, ouch, my legs.
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| fellow commuters |
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| interval around 10 minutes |
So yeah, I took the first train on the first day of LRT Shah Alam from the first station. Kind of memorable. From Johan Setia, the train is not packed yet, still got seats until after LRT Pasar Besar Klang. Then, from the station onwards, more crowded until Glenmarie Station. Many people got off in Glenmarie.
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| inside the coach of LRT Shah Alam |
From LRT Shah Alam Glenmarie Station, I rushed to LRT Kelana Jaya line to transit to LRT Ara Damansara. So many people walked together, bottleneck at the fare gate. My heart was racing. After teaching LRT Ara Damansara, I ran to the bus stop to take a bus, bus 772. I was lucky, by the time I reached the bus stop, the bus haven't reached yet, so I got to take the bus and reached Sungei Way Free Trade Zone (Selatan) on around 7.30am, I reached my company around 7.40am. I was too agitated that instead of the company card, I tagged using the touch n go card, the security guard couldn't stand it and laughing so hard.
Instead of usual after 7pm that day, I left my workplace at around 6pm to go home. Initially I planned to take KTM at Setia Jaya KTM Station. However, after I crossed the Federal Highway, the train that I targeted already left! So I had to take bus. So for going back time, I took bus 772 to Ara Damansara LRT station, then from Ara Damansara LRT Station to Glenmarie Station. Finally, Glenmarie Station to Johan Setia LRT Station. I reached home around 8.30pm. The time taken was quite long.
For the next day 30th June, on the morning, I missed the bus 772 and had to waited for the 7.30am bus. However, I still managed to reach company before 8am. It's a scare, although my company allowed flexi hour and must be there at the core hour of 9am to 4pm, I had a daily meeting at 8.30am and I had to prepare before that. On both day, I did it in the train. If I couldn't do it if there's no seat, it would be bad for me.
Anyway, I wanted to try rapid on demand during going back time. There's a stop from FIZ to LRT Taman Bahagia. I waited from 6.33am and the pick up time keep increasing until when it was changed to 7.45pm, I gave up and booked a grab ride to Glenmarie Station. I reached home around 9pm that day.
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| at Glenmarie LRT Station |
That's why from Wednesday, I continued driving. I have to figure out how to get to Glenmarie Station from my workplace more efficiently. I even have discussions with my colleagues who stayed in klang and other friends from FIZ on this last mile transportation. I think for the next round of public transportation commute, I would focus on KTM + LRT instead of bus.
Happy commuting!
