No more fuel subsidies? Danno rides the bus. Danno 1 Fuel increase 0

On 4 June 2008 the whole Malaysia became a chaotic mess. The news had just come out that our beloved government would be stopping fuel subsidies and will offer a rebate instead to car owners when they renewing their road tax. Fuel prices will be raised from Rm1.92 to RM2.70 per litre.

True to the Malaysian spirit every mothafucka with four (and two too!) wheels rushed to the petrol stations to pump their tanks before the end of the day causing massive traffic jams on roads leading to petrol stations everywhere in the country.

Ok, so you save what RM 40 to RM 50 now but won't you still have to pump your petrol next week? And you have to wait like what 1 hour before you could pump your petrol. Malaysians will always be Malaysians.

So you might be thinking "What the hell are you going to do about it mate? This is a burden to the rakyat!"

Problem: Fuel price increases

Solution: Rapid Penang Bus service

It has been almost 6 years since I have last taken the bus in Penang. Back in the days where me and my mates would used to jump from the various gates of Penang Free School and run to the bus stop to catch a bus to One Stop or Gurney, buses were dirty, smelly and we were squashed in like a can of sardines. However, I had decided to let the Malaysia transport system redeem itself on Thursday morning.

Being true to the wannabe aussie poser inside of me, I dressed up to work that day, wore my sunnies and had my mp3 playing The Cure "Friday I'm in love" at full blast (Yea I know, it was a bloody Thursday. But hey it's my favourite song to listen to before I go to work. ) To be honest with you as I strutted towards the bus stop (pic below), I did not expect much of a change from my last experiences on Penang buses.

(Bus stop along Dato Keramat Road which is opposite Kampung Makam)

The wonderful thing about living near Dato Keramat Road is that all the Air Itam buses as well as some Greenlane ones will use the road to go down to the Jetty Bus terminal. After a short 5 minute wait a bus had finally arrived.

"Encik, ada pergi Jalan Bahari (the road nearest to my office)"

"Ada, naik naik. Satu Ringgit!"

To my surprise the bus was actually pretty clean and wasn't that packed (pic below). Of course some idiots had vandalised the back seats by writing " Ahmad cinta kepada Ali" (Ahmad loves Ali) and " Rohani hisap kote kuat kuat kao kao" (Rohani sucks dick damm hard damm well) but other than that there was no funky smell nor was it dirty or anything. WICKEDDDDDDD

Oh yea, I actually got a lot of stares from the peeps on the bus. Must be the sunnies as well as all my head bobbing that I was doing.(Song had changed to Sexy Can I)

Note to self: "Musn't look to cool on a Penang bus. Might get robbed. I am not in Melbourne. Repeat plenty of times"

(How YA DOENN.....Unfortunately there were no hot chicks on the bus to appreciate my wannabe poser look)

After about a 15 minute bus ride, I reached my stop and got down. Walked another 5 minutes to my office and started bragging to everyone about my bus trip. Started by telling the rest of them how they are so freakin spoilt and how they do not love the environment and how they should be shot for not trying to save the ozone like me.

Then you get a couple of Asian blonde women (aka bimbos) who went like " WAHHHHHH you really took Rapid arr?? Not scarryy arrr? Not hot arrrrrrr????" Like yea woman, Danno ain't some spoilt rich brat that can't take buses. There are a lot of low-income to middle-income (as well as students who skip school) people who still depend on the bus as their main source of transportation.

Some haters refused to believe that Danno took a bus, so I saved this as proof:-

Folks,

Danno 1 ; Fuel Price increase 0 ; haters and bimbos -9999999999999

Rapid Bus Ticket = RM 1.00

Parking Fee saved per day = RM 10.00

Looking cool wearing shades and listening to rockin tunes on your mp3 player while riding the bus = PRICELESS

There are some things that money can't buy.

For others there is the Rapid Penang bus.