PETALING JAYA: Sunway Pyramid recorded its highest traffic arrival in its 20 years of operation in 2017. A growth of 5% year-on-year in car count was recorded despite weak consumer sentiment, disruption in e-commerce and the opening of new malls in Klang Valley.
Sunway Malls chief operating officer Kevin Tan attributed this positive increase in traffic to various structural initiatives by Sunway Group over the last few years.
Sunway Malls chief operating officer Kevin Tan
“The Sunway Group had invested RM200mil on road connectivity by constructing a dedicated new interchange from KESAS highway as well as undertaken road widening project along the NPE highway leading to the Kewajipan roundabout. These projects reduced congestion and allowed quicker access into Sunway City,” said Kevin in a statement.
Despite registering a new record, the mall believed there was still room to grow as it broadens its vehicular volume approach by focusing on family parking and ride hailing segments.
Sunway Malls general manager of operations Jason Chin.
According to the statement, Sunway Malls operations general manager Jason Chin said, “Based on figures released by Malaysia Automotive Association, 2017 saw MPVs & SUVs sub-segments grew by 11.4% collectively in relation to 2016. In comparison, passenger cars contracted by 3.2%. We see the demand for larger parking bays will come on stream quickly especially in malls.
The mall is also working on its car park, giving it a fresh coat of paint and epoxy flooring.
The popularity and growth of ride hailing was another important development following the move by the government to legalise e-hailing in July last year.
Apart from last mile connectivity and convenience, ride hailing also served to lessen congestion and demand of car park bays during peak hours. This, in turn allowed better optimisation and yielded higher turnover of bays.
In 2017, the mall partnered with Grab to unveil the first-ever Grab Lounge in South East Asia as part of the effort to grow ride hailing services.
