Rapid Penang is one of the public transport that can be found in Penang both on the island and Mainland too. About a year ago on the 23 January 2009, Rapid Penang collaborate with Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) offer free shuttle bus service, MPPP Rapid Penang CAT, along the streets of George Town. The service offers from 6:00am till 12:00am and it makes 19 strategic stops. Rapid Penang had assigned buses with "Hop on Free" and were specially painted with colorful designs for easy recognition and differentiation from otehr normal Rapid Buses. Besides that, look out for the words "
City Hop On" and "
Central Area Transit (CAT)"
Check out
Rapid Bus Penang for more updated schedule.
Here are the routes that has been assigned:
The stops are from Pengkalan Weld, Ferry, Little India, Immigration, Bank Negara, Museum, Muntri Street, Campbell Street, Central of Komtar, North of Komtar, Kedah Road, Chowrasta, East of Komtar, Carnarvon Street, Kampung Kolam, Court, Dewan Sri Pinang, Fort Cornwallis and Dowing Street.
At each stops, you will be able to view a different variety of things. At Pengkalan Weld, you will be able to see Swettenham Port and Church Street Pier. While at the Ferry, you will be able to see Pengkalan Tun Raja Uda, Wisma Yeap Chor Ee (as shown below) and Wisma Kastam.
Next, inside the Little India and the surrounding, you will find Pinang Peranakan Mansion, Chung Keng Kwee Ancestral Temple, Penang Heritage Trust, San Wooi Wooi Koon, Old OCBC Building, 1886 Building, Kongsoon House and Ghee Hiang.
While at the Immigration stop, you will see the Immigration Building, Standard Chartered Building and also HSBC. As you move down, you will see the Royal Bank of Scotland (formerly known ABN Amro Bank), Logan's Building and the Whiteways.
On the 5th stop which is called the Bank Negara, you will see the Bank Negara Malaysia located there. Around the corner, you find House of Yeap Chor Ee, which is also known as the Sire Musuem. On the opposite side of the road, you will find the Town Hall, City Hall, Fort Cornwallis, Cenotaph and Dewan Sri Pinang.
Let's move to the next stop which is the Museum. There will be buildings like the Penang Museum, St. George's Anglican Church, Church of the Assumption, Supreme Court, Logan Memorial, Convent Light Street and St Xavier's Institution. The last 2 buildings are now schools.
Next, we will travel to Muntri Street where the St Francis Xavier Church, Hainan Temple, Francis Light's Tomb, Segara Ninda and Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is located. You will also find Benggali Mosque, Chowrasta Market and Penang Bazaar at Campbell Street. You will be around the Central of Komtar where Prangin Mall and Pacific Komtar is located. Moving north of Komtar, you will find more interesting places like the Ong Kongsi, Masjid James Simpang Enam, Gama supermarket and Church of Our Lady of Sorrows. The taller building in the picture below is Komtar.
Moving forward will be the Kedah Road where Masjid Titi Papan, Dato Koyah Shrine and Saw Khaw Lean Heah Kongsi is situated. Around the Chowrasta and East Komtar, you will find there are Market and Bazaar there. The Penang Road famous cendol is there too! While you are along Carnarvon Street, you will find more building such as Li Teik Seah, Penang Tourism Information Centre, Penang Islam Museum, Sun Yat Sen Penang Base and Campbell Street Market.
Nearer to Kampung Kolam area, you will find a different variety of buildings such as the Kapitan Keling Mosque, Acheen Street Mosque and Noordin Family Tomb. Also, there are many Kongsi there such as
Khoo Kongsi, Cheah Kongsi, Lim Kongsi and Yap Kongsi. Besides the mosque and Kongsi, there are Gudang Acheh and temples like Choo Chay Keong Temple and Hock Teik Cheng Sin Temple.
The first picture is Khoo and Cheah Kongsi while the second picture is Yap Kongsi.
At the 16th stop, you will find a St George's Church and Kuan Yin Teng next to each other and Sri Mahamariamman Temple nearby too. Apart from all the worship places, Supreme Court,
Bank Negara Malaysia and
Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce is there. It is one of the busiest street during working hours. Along that road, you will see Dewan Sri Pinang, City Hall and Town Hall too. Besides that, Supreme Court, Logan Memorial and Cenotaph is close by. Within walking distance, you can find the State Assembly Building and Foo Tye Sin Mansion.
Last but not least, the last stop at Downing Street will be the General Post Office, Islamic Council Building and the Standard Charted Building. Most of the places, I have not personally cover it with my photography. However, I am putting them into my must do list in this year. Let's see how much I can cover and will update you guys soon.
