KUALA LUMPUR, 11 December – For a second consecutive year, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) has been honoured by the distinguished European Society for Quality Research (ESQR) for excellence in providing public transport services, which included the haj metro service in Saudi Arabia.

Prasarana, which primarily manages the urban rail and stage bus services in Malaysia, was accorded by the Lausanne-based organization its prestigious International Diamond Prize for  Excellence in Quality 2017; underlining the Group‟s commendable performance for 2017 in its continuous effort to transform the country‟s public transport services.  

Held on Saturday (9 December) in Vienna at the Parkhotel Schönbrunn, which was formerly the Palace for the Emperor‟s guests, Prasarana was represented by its Chairman, Tan Sri Khalid Abu  Bakar, who received the award from ESQR Senior Advisor, Michael Harris.  

A total of 54 companies, public administrations and organizations representing different sectors from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Australia were accorded various awards at the Convention, which is held annually in giving recognition for excellence in services and leadership in their respective sectors. 

In his comments upon receiving the award, Tan Sri Khalid paid tribute to the 10,000 -strong staff of the Group and its subsidiaries; and that Prasarana was humbled to be accorded with the prestigious award for the second year.  

“The year 2017 has indeed been a glorious year for Prasarana and its subsidiaries especially with the increased expectations from our customers and stakeholders – both domestically and internationally.  

“Recently, we won the main award at the Malaysia HR Awards 2017 and named as the „Employer of Choice‟ by the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM). Prior to that in August, Prasarana was honoured at the Asia Human Resources Development Awards for our contribution to the community.  

“At the Malaysian Social Media Week in Kuala Lumpur in November, Rapid KL was the recipient of the Social Media Excellence Award for Logistics and Transportation Sector at its awards ceremony. We are truly humbled to receive these recognitions. Naturally, we will not rest on our laurels and will instead strive harder as we continually increase our benchmark to be among the best in the world.  

“2018 is just around the corner and we will face new challenges. Prasarana and its subsidiaries will be ready to take on these challenges. The ESQR award is a testament that we are on the right track in driving the transformation of Malaysia‟s public transport services and providing services with excellence to our customers,” said Tan Sri Khalid, who was appointed as Prasarana  Chairman last September. 

The awards and recognitions, he said, would help spur the spirit and determination of Prasarana‟s staff to make 2018 an even more successful year for Prasarana especially in elevating further the quality of its exemplary services.  

“The customers‟ expectation will continue to increase despite the high scores that we made this year. That‟s a fact of life. And, there‟s always room for further improvement in everything we do.  

That‟s also a fact of life,” added Tan Sri Khalid.