A bus rapid transit system (BRT) will be implemented as the public transportation model for Iskandar Malaysia to support the region's bus industry restructuring.

The decision was endorsed at the eighth Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) Members of Authority (MOA) meeting here today, which was jointly chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also IRDA Co-Chairman, and Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

"The Members also endorsed the incorporation of Pasukan Pengangkutan Awam Iskandar Malaysia (PAIM) as the state's Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to drive public transport improvement initiatives and future development," said IRDA in a statement on Friday.

Benchmarked against other developing countries, the BRT is a bus system with dedicated bus running ways and is expected to be a cost-effective way of providing high quality and high performance transit.

The system which requires a lower development cost with greater implementation compared to rail transit, is targeted to increase peak hour public transport modal share to 25 per cent by 2012 and 50 per cent by 2030.

The proposed model would include the development of infrastructure and supporting public transport facilities such as bus lanes, integrated transport terminals, stations and interchange, integrated ticketing and cashless transaction system, and passenger's information system.

A total length of 320 kilometres of BRT lines would be established to cover the five flagship zones of Iskandar Malaysia, with the pilot project to cover three main lines -- Johor Bahru to Skudai (21.05 kilometres), Johor Bahru to Pandan (9.57 kilometres) and Johor Bahru to Nusajaya (13.93 kilometres).

A total cost of RM469.5 million has been estimated for the BRT infrastructure, which covers bus lanes, terminals, stations, interchanges, stops, park and ride facilities and mobility centres, and it is targeted to complete by 2012.

"With the completion of the pilot BRT lines, ridership is expected to increase from the current 150,000 to 400,000 daily," IRDA said.