Run organisers should establish fixed KL city routes with DBKL, PDRM to reduce traffic disruption – Hannah Yeoh

Running event organisers have been urged to established fixed routes on the city centre with DBKL and PDRM to reduce traffic disruption caused by road closures that always change. Minister in the prime minister’s department in charge of Federal Territories Hannah Yeoh suggested a set standard route based on distance.

“Three km, this route. Five km this route. Organisers can’t choose whichever route they want,” she told reporters on Saturday, reported by Bernama. “Just for this week, one run, 30 roads closed. I can’t accept this. I don’t want the public to not be able to plan their journey into the city. We need to ensure runs are orderly,” she added.

Yeoh said that the move is not to stop running events, but to ensure that such events can be carried out in an orderly manner without affecting traffic flow in the capital city, considering that over one million vehicles enter KL every day.

She added that organisers who need a different route (than the standardised ones) can consider other less congested areas, aside from making use of existing routes such as the one used by KL Car Free Morning. “KL is a city that needs orderliness. I don’t want the public to waste time waiting for hours for roads to open,” the Segambut MP said.

Fair points from the minister, who must be referring to the Coway Run that happened yesterday. Starting and ending at Stadium Merdeka, the running route was entirely in the city centre. However, in the days leading up to the event, organisers downgraded the 30 km run to just 10 km, citing health safety and uncertainties about air quality.

In any case, flag-off times for run events (5am for Coway’s 10K run, longer distances typically start much earlier) are typically in the wee hours of the morning where city roads are empty.

I can think of one exception – the Malaysia Marathon event at the end of August had its flag-off just past Saturday midnight, and with a flag-off point at Pavilion and a finish line at KLCC, the event set-up caused congestion in busy areas. I know, I was caught in the Saturday night jam around KLCC and returned to run the race a couple of hours later.

That run appeared to be strongly supported by the government though – deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and tourism minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing flagged off a category. Another run by the same organiser, Malaysia Sarong Music Run, flagged off at KLCC on a Saturday evening earlier this month. PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was there.

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