RapidKL dishes out advice on love and public transport etiquette

Malaysian public transporation system, RapidKL, has gone viral on social media for its love advice to its commuters which included a tip to refrain from farting. It said that doing so is an act of respect for others, though letting one go can prevent one from getting hurt. 

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In a move that humorously combined public transport etiquette pointers with love advice, the social media posts, full of puns, came in time for Single’s Day on 11 November 2023. The posts have since garnered over 1,300 shares on Facebook and over 27,000 likes on Instagram at the time of writing.  Another piece of advice asked commuters to put their bags down inside trains, while noting that they should not put high expectations on people as promises might not always be fulfilled.  

On a more melancholic note, it also advised against running to catch a train, though acknowledging that some might still choose to run after an uncertain love. 

In a final pearl of wisdom, it urged commuters not to leave litter on the trains, with a maudlin question – “how can one stop caring for another that treats them like trash?” 

The posts had netizens tickled, with comments chiming in on the joke and complimenting RapidKL’s social media administrator.  

In the thirty days prior to the Single's Day posts, sentiments of social media conversations on RapidKL were 18.1% positive and 19.4% negative, according to media intelligence firm, CARMA. 62.5% of conversations were reported as neutral.

The negative conversations were related to issues with the brand's service and infrastructure, such as automatic door malfunctions and the introduction of a women's section. Some netizens felt that the latter reduced efficiency.

However, since the posts were published, there was an uptick in sentiments, coming in at 37.2% positive and 6.9% negative. 55.9% of conversations remained neutral. 

The prior negative conversations were muted by public support for the Single's Day campaign, demonstrating the immediate impact of good public relations moves. 

CARMA also noted that on top of the creative campaigns that have been well-received, RapidKL should "focus on mending the challenges in its service" to forge long-lasting favourability for the brand.

By consistently delivering good service on top of well-loved campaigns such as the Single's Day posts, RapidKL can "turn the neutral majority who rely on this service for just their transportation needs into advocates of the brand". 

This is not the first time the company has jumped on popular trends in its social media content. At the height of the Squid Game hype in October 2021, the company drew inspiration from one of the iconic scenes in the series to stir up chatter among netizens on social media and promote its transportation card.  

It posted a video clip on Facebook showing two men playing ddakji, a popular game among children in South Korea played using folded paper tiles. The loser in the video ends up getting "slapped" by the other individual. Along with the video came the caption: "Are you still using tokens to ride the train? It’s easier to use our card!"  The video gained more than 200,000 views on Facebook and more than 11,000 views on TikTok at the time.  

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