Reaching Schools by Public Transportation (preschools & early years)

Hello Jonathan and welcome to Expat.com!

Hope that you'll soon be enlightened.

Harmonie.

Hi,
My child goes to Alice Smith. Its a very good school. Seeing your elder one's age it seems she wud join Alice Smith for reception. Alice Smith bus goes to Bangsar area only, for reception kids. You may stay in Bangsar and take the train to KLCC for work, which is quite convenient. From year 1, the bus can pick up from any place you stay, even KLCC area. Besides there is car pool system within the school community. Up to u, what you want to choose. Once your child joins school, you may enquire about the carpools from KLCC area. Or, you can fix up a regular taxi to drop the kids.

Heartnsoul,

Many thanks for your answer, this is very encouraging!

In that case, for the elder one I guess living in KLCC my wife could also take the train to Bangsar and drop her in the school bus for reception year.

Carpools would of course be great. However, we just dont drive (and my wife doesnt have a driving licence).  So I guess other parents might not want to allow us into their carpools, when we can only contribute with money but no driving ourselves?

As for regular taxis, are there any parents who use a regular taxi scheme?

If so, I would be very interested to hear about their experience (reliabilty, safety, traffic perhaps from/near KLCC, ..etc)
My wife would not mind actually taking the taxi with the child.

Option 1 Carpool (You will have to find out, about the nondriving issue, haven't done carpooling, so I do not know, but its quite common for reception kids as there's no bus from most areas).

Option 2 Call taxis are safer and charge as per the rule vs any taxi from the road. In general, taxi travelling is quite safe. We have more or less had good experiences with taxis, except for a few who are on the lookout for more money. But KLCC area taxis are always looking for more money because of tourists. The most popular are Radio cab (they keep u on hold and let u know immediately): 03-26936211 and Public Cab (03-62592090) (You will have to call 2 times, once to give the info and after a few minutes again to find out if there is a taxi and its frustrating when u hear 'no taxi' after waiting for a while, when u r in a rush. We prefer Radio, also called SW.

So, your wife can take a call taxi directly to school for the first few weeks until she finds some good taxi person and can fix a deal for a regular pick and drop timing and a fixed monthly amount.

This will be far better than coming from KLCC to Bangsar via train, then take a taxi to the drop off point in Bangsar for the bus (specially difficult in the morning with young children).

Option 3: Lady taxi drivers are there (though not many). I know a few in Bangsar area who take children to preschools. I am sure you will get to know in KLCC area also.

Regarding your younger one's school, there's Children's House in Ampang, (very famous) and a new one Treetophouse (which I heard has teachers from Children's house) where expat kids go to. I dont know much about preschools in KLCC area.
 
Hope you have already applied for Alice Smith, because their waiting list is always long and they might be doing their assessments for september session soon.

There was a mistake in the earlier number.

Public Cab (03-62592020)

Heartnsoul,
Fantastic answers.
Thanks so much for taking the time.
We will do exactly as you suggest.
Have a great weekend!
J.

Hi public transport in KL is at best rated in KL as rubbish! The lrt (light trains) are ok but overcrowded. Forget buses as late, smelly and overcrowded. Schools run buses (at cost) that if you live in right olace are good and taxis (i would never trust a child alone with a taxi driver) is the only real alternative. Getting around KL without a car is awful although some expats do manage with taxis and walking (slow and dangerous). Taxis can be unreliable in KL and often you have to pay above rate to get them to take you anywhere especially in a jam. I never take taxis as one nearly killed me (drive of with me half in), one friend got attacked by one, another lady friend had lots of lewd comments about swinging (she phoned me to rescue her) and when I last got in one I had to endure two hours (jam to Sri harts as near mint kiara) of being sold the taxi drivers "girl/boy friends" the old pervert! And of course dealing with meters than spin like mad so that 10th fair becomes 50rm lol

Hi nemodot,

Many thanks for ur answer.
It corroborates some of the scare stories i did hear about transportation in kl.

The issue with us is i am scared to drive ever since an accident i got involved when i was young.
As for my wife, she simply doesnt have the licence, as she always lived in cities with gd public transport.
So we are stuck with taxi type of options.

Looking on google maps, klcc to alice smith (for example) is rated as a 13min journey, but indeed i guess thats without any traffic jams! What would u expect on a normal weekday morning around 8.30am?

(We would indeed never leave a child alone in taxi, and my wife will accompany at all times.)

A final option is to hire a personal driver with car, but very few posted about this so i assume its not a popular or easy option? (though would seem more trustworthy/reliable than most taxis).

I think all will 'tilt' in our minds once we arrive.

A final option is to hire a personal driver with car, but very few posted about this so i assume its not a popular or easy option? (though would seem more trustworthy/reliable than most taxis).

A driver is a popular option here, but generally you provide the car not the driver. Cars are very expensive here but you can hire a driver for around RM1000/month.