MRT: A Boon Or Bane

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is on the headlines again since its intensive study in 1998. It’s going to be implemented very soon, ground breaking in July this year. My organization, KPRU has released official statement mainly about the possibility of MRT fees based on mathematical calculation and we also questioning the government refusal to publicly emphasize specifically, its estimation of MRT fees. No one knows about it except the government. It is a bit strange to discover, when I asked one of those in charge for exhibition, he simply told us the government will decide the fees when the project is up soon. I went to MRT exhibition at Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) last Tuesday with my colleague. The moment I arrived, it's just like myself as Dagny Taggart, going through the details of MRT’s project with so much interest. But unfortunately, MRT is a conclusion of friendly partnership of government and business while Atlas Shrugged is quite the opposite, the clash of government and business interest.

Details, big figures, technical drawings, engineering drawings, and the simulation of MRT operation also have been demonstrate, well, to convince us, the public on its viability. I guess not so many people know exactly what are the organizer attempts to promote apart of relying on pretty map of MRT. All the public know is the spill over the project involving thousands of job creation and extra opportunities. I’m still skeptical because my big worry is the process, market, subsidies and the owner of MRT; government or business. My personal view on MRT as below;

Central planning, again, to accumulate all knowledge from millions of MRT users is technically impossible. A single authority namely Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) has not being able to supervise and under limited oversight, this authority also can't ensure specific objectives will be met in proper order. Remember, SPAD also has been centralized from several transportation agency in Prime Minister Office, there is a clear evident of bigger role of this authority, and therefore, of course, they will confront many issues from the beginning of the implementation and I must say, more impending bureaucratic, more time, more resources being wasted if SPAD losing their focus. Public transportation frustration is too big for SPAD to address alone. After all, what happen to Terminal Bersepadu Bandar Tasik Selatan that operates under its capacity since the opening early this year? There is more for SPAD to take care of including bus services, LRT maintenance and operation, taxis, licensing, enforcement and regulations. SPAD is expanding the insanity of central planning as widely possible with little hindsight.

Secondly, I definitely disagree with mathematical calculations in deriving estimated fees for MRT systems. I understand the sentiments of getting ‘political attention’, by doing comparison between countries without absolute acknowledgement the differences such as purchasing power, duties, transportation cost, inflation and so forth. The level of prices is completely different. The people in that particular country also have their own valuation and pricing process, so I, from free market perspectives, conclude that monetary calculation in intimidating the MRT fees is specious and delusionary. What we can do, don’t preoccupied our single mind to think the future prices because I don’t know how the future looks like, uncertain and the price does not reflects our infinite human action.

Thirdly, Austrian School of Economics always right about the complexity of human actions and its ramification. There is news recently says rich people don’t need MRT because they got own cars, but poor people are well receives the benefit of MRT. Government also fixing up (statistically) the number of passengers in phase of MRT’s project upon completion. The management of SPAD had visited Hong Kong and Singapore to learn their rails system and as usual, one size fits all, imaginary figures, engineering approach might somehow influencing the implementation of MRT in Malaysia. But let us go back to the basic that no individual man could explain the relationship between actions and preferences of 400,000 ridership per day. It is fundamentally error for any one, including government to constantly believe regulating million of consumers and alter their tastes and choices in using MRT as main mode of transportation. I see cars and motorists on the highway whenever I go to office everyday, lots of them and different direction until at one point, I couldn’t figure out what is their destination, at what cost, at what purpose, in what type of cars, and more impossible, what is their knowledge possession. No institution regulates them, but yet they successfully coordinating themselves without intervention. Similar things goes to the government, it can’t, but market can do it. This is the reason why I always propose if the oil prices reflect market origin; it will become more expensive as more spending is expected just for filling petrol in the vehicles tanks. What shall we then do? I want to save more (expensive petrol prices), I prefer MRT as my mode of transport. On the contrary, I have to spend more (expensive petrol prices) if I refuse to use MRT. Ultimately, the choice is belong to the consumers. Free market shall show you the way. As F.A Hayek said in great essay The Use of Knowledge in Society“…Economic problem arise always and only in consequence of change. As long as things continue as before or at least they were expected to, arise no new problems requiring a decision, no need to form a plan”