ASEAN Hive Community Challenge #7 - Show me your morning commute

Sometimes I do drive or take an LRT to the office. But most of the time, my morning commute of choice would be my motorbike. The reason is (i) the traffic jam that I need to go through every morning, and (ii) the car parking cost per day.

If I were to drive to the office, the time I would take driving would be around 45 minutes to 1 hour. The cost of car parking per day is around 4USD to 5 USD. So commuting to the office by motorbike is the fastest and cheapest option.

I recently changed my daily workhorse from a 600cc motorbike to a 150cc scooter. The reason for this change is I wanted to lower my monthly maintenance expenses.

Below pictures show the usual route that I will take to go to office.

(Pictures) My new workhorse

To be honest, this scooter is last on my list of motorbikes that I wanted to buy. The motorbike that I wanted to buy was Yamaha MT25 or Honda CBR250RR. But after thoroughly thinking I decided to buy a motorbike with a much smaller cc.

The maintenance cost of a 250cc compared with a 600cc motorbike is almost within the same range. To achieve my goal of lowering my monthly commitment, I choose this Honda ADV 150cc scooter.

The best thing about this scooter is that it has a large compartment under the seat. Plus the compartment in the rear box that I added. I can safely store my laptop bag, and important documents before riding the scooter.

A few of my friends did ask me, what is my plan for my old motorbike? As of now, I plan to restore the motorbike and maybe use it for the weekend ride.

(Pictures) Maneuvering in Kuala Lumpur traffic

Thankfully I am used to riding a motorbike in Kuala Lumpur traffic jams. I have been riding in Kuala Lumpur from the year 2004 until the present. However, maneuvering the scooter feels a bit awkward.

But I believe that it gets better after a few days of riding. It's just a matter of time before I can ride the scooter with ease and confidence.

From my house, I need to go through Ara Damansara. This area is well known for its traffic, especially during peak hours. I once drove my car and stuck in traffic in the area for more than 1 hour.

I have no choice but to carefully go through the traffic jam at Ara Damansara before I can reach the Federal Highway.

After entering Federal Highway, there is a specialized lane for motorbikes. I can ride my scooter inside the motorbike lane. From there, I need to ride for 20 minutes heading to Bangsar, where my office is located at.

Once entered the motorbike lane, I do not need to worry about the traffic jam, and it is safer compared to riding out of the motorbike lane. This is another perk of riding a motorbike in Kuala Lumpur.