Walking — the RM300bil answer Malaysia keeps ignoring
From Wan Agyl Wan Hassan
Malaysians debate transport the same way we debate football: loudly, endlessly and with great confidence. Every few months, we argue about MRT lines, new highways, free bus programmes, downtown congestion, express buses and e-hailing regulations.
We have built multi-billion-ringgit rail lines, launched new transit corridors and widened roads until cities have run out of space. And yet somehow the one mode of transport every Malaysian uses — walking — always remains invisible in our national policy imagination.
Walking is treated as a beautification project. A cosmetic upgrade. The responsibility of local councils. Something for tourists in Bukit Bintang, or families in KLCC Park. But not a national economic strategy. Not a key pillar of mobility. Not something worthy of federal funding.
A landmark study from France’s Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) last year forces us to confront this bias. The study found that walking accounts for 24% of…
