MRT Serdang Raya Utara

This is a new station on the MTR Putrajaya Line, which finally opened in March 2023.

Billions of ringgit were spent on the new MRT line but station access is still a failure. It is not that difficult to understand desire lines and create convenient pedestrian crossings.

The station is opposite a bustling area - it should be as easy as possible to get to the station from here. But there is a 6 lane road in the way and fences along the walkway under the station.

Bridges, ramps, escalators, lifts have all been included in the design, but crossing the road has not been solved. Come on MRTCorp and MBSJ. It’s time to prioritise walking and wheeling.

This is just one example of poor access into a big MRT station. There are many more/ worse examples.

So there is a long term problem with this stuff. MRTCorp and the councils need to do some serious thinking about the purpose of MRT stations.
It is critical that the stakeholders *work together* and the integration plan for the station and surrounding area needs to be prioritised - it’s not optional. Quite often it is nothing to do with cost - it is just prioritising the right things and using good design principles.
These design principles are fairly straightforward - give a good design consultant the guidance and they will come up with something that works. The hard part is getting that standard and guidance in place, agreeing to prioritise what needs to be prioritised, and daring to slow down car drivers for the benefit of more efficient modes of city transport.
Interestingly, someone posted an earlier design of the station access, which included a footbridge across the road.
https://twitter.com/JdUnknownperson/status/1675079230970015744?s=20
There have been comments on the Twitter post about cut-backs - perhaps this footbridge was one of the casualties. However, footbridges are rarely the answer, and access into stations can be excellent without footbridges. (The footbridges in Brickfields, which are very high but only take you across a narrow road, take the concept of footbridges across roads to extremes of absurdity.) Usually, a simple pedestrian crossing will be all that's needed, as long as it gives priority to pedestrians. This doesn't need to cost a lot of money and can usually be done within the same budget as the road resurfacing around the station.