PETALING JAYA: It was not too long ago that residents around the Klang Valley cheered the start of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line.

Phase 1 between Sungai Buloh and Semantan commenced service on Dec 16, 2016, while Phase 2, between Muzium Negara and Kajang, was opened on July 17, 2017.

However, sometime after the completion, commuters were saddened to find defects and experienced technical glitches, including delays, at some stations.

Some commuters also said there weren’t enough car parks to go around.

Pails to collect rainwater were seen at the Bukit Dukung and the Bandar Tun Hussein Onn stations since last month.

A frequent MRT commuter, who wanted to be known as Yoong, said the MRT offered more frequency trips, especially during peak hours.

“Not many delays. The train is spacious,” said Yoong at KL Sentral yesterday.

“But I’ve heard that there were technical glitches within months of the MRT being launched. Main­tenance is always important, even for a world-class infrastructure.”

Yoong, who is an oil and gas analyst residing in Kajang, said commuters ought to be informed what exactly caused the delays.

“The operator should be fined for every minute of a breakdown. Maybe RM50,000 every minute or RM1mil for every breakdown or delay if it is a repeated offence,” he suggested.

Last month, Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that delays of 15 minutes or more on the Rapid KL LRT service should be announced at a media conference under a new SOP.

A college student David, 23, said he noticed pails placed at the Bandar Tun Hussein Onn station to collect rain water

“Commuters have to be careful not to accidentally kick those pails or slip on the wet floor.

“It’s strange to see such defects at a new MRT station like this,” he said.

David said he was doing an internship with a company for the past three months and took the MRT to work almost every day.

“So far, there were three technical glitches announced within these three months, causing me to be late for work,” he added.

He also spoke of the lack of car parks at the stations.

IT programmer Farhanah, 25, said she was surprised to see the pails and wet floor despite the Bandar Tun Hussein Onn MRT station being new.

“MRT has just begun its services last year. They should fix those defects as soon as possible as they are causing an inconvenience.

“I have seen these pails for more than a week. There are still leaks whenever it rains,” she said.

Farhanah wants clearer information on the feeder bus schedules and which ones stopped at designated stations.

She also suggested that there should be more shops or stalls at the station, so that the management could get more income for maintenance works.

A check at the Bukit Dukung station showed a number of unoccupied shoplots.

A 30-day unlimited Rapid bus and rail pass was announced in Budget 2019.