Review - ERP hike...
Been nearly 4 mths since I started this... and recently, been undergoing some serious thought about how this blog should go on. Perhaps recent events does take it toil on me... considering how agitated I can get... haha... Whether I should open this blog up (which is currently accessible, but still largely a private affair). And if so, what kind of impact is there. Perhaps it is not clear to me, whether this is like a diary or a journal, or just somewhere for me to sort out my thoughts, or perhaps even to share them. However, to some extent I do like it as what it is currently, where I get a certain sense of privacy, but maybe I am making some personal comments far too public, which may not be a good thing for me. :(
So, I would prefer it being a private space.
Recently, ERP went up again, and there are new ERP areas. sian... more calculating... and more money... I am generally not against ERP (though I would like to pay less), but if it does make things better, having better public transport should be top priority, having better roads, then I am for it. However, is this where the money is going? I do believe that we have to strike a balance between solving problems of congestions and improving the quality of current public transport.
Both are not short term solutions, because even building a road will take years. So, there is no basis to say that one of them is short term and the other is not. Yet, unlike building a road, improving the transport network will help to ease congestion in the long run, by encouraing more people to turn to public transport. However, the obsession with rising profits for the transport companies, have at times compromised the quality of service provided. Just take a look at the NorthEast region. If I were to go to Tampinese by bus, it takes 40min ++, because there is neither light rail or rapid-transit, and the distance is actually very short. With regards to shopping, the distance I have to walk from the bus-stop, the frequency of the bus, and the packness of the bus, are not always helpful. And this is not considering the fact, that its not really cheap to take public transport in Singapore. I mean, much more should be done, resources and effort should be invested into not only thinking of making the public transport companies more profitable, but to make them provide better services (not the tv mobile stuff which don't work most of the time), but better bus networks, such that people don't have to wait long, and don't have to walk far. Ideas such as not having additional basic charges for transfer bus rides, or maybe even a London sort of day pass, would be much encouraged.
If Polanyi's ideas are right, singapore public transport in the last five years, have gone hay-wired with the 'invisible hand of the market', where it is clearly invisible. Obsession with profits and share-holder value is undermining the quality, standards and expectations that people have come to view the public transport system. It is perhaps time, that something is done about it.
I do recognise that the transport problem is a very tricky one, and there are no fast solution, but that is not the same as no solution. Maybe if the bus companies look less at current indicators, and go back to the drawing board on evaluating their servies, things will get better. sigh...
Recently, ERP went up again, and there are new ERP areas. sian... more calculating... and more money... I am generally not against ERP (though I would like to pay less), but if it does make things better, having better public transport should be top priority, having better roads, then I am for it. However, is this where the money is going? I do believe that we have to strike a balance between solving problems of congestions and improving the quality of current public transport.
Both are not short term solutions, because even building a road will take years. So, there is no basis to say that one of them is short term and the other is not. Yet, unlike building a road, improving the transport network will help to ease congestion in the long run, by encouraing more people to turn to public transport. However, the obsession with rising profits for the transport companies, have at times compromised the quality of service provided. Just take a look at the NorthEast region. If I were to go to Tampinese by bus, it takes 40min ++, because there is neither light rail or rapid-transit, and the distance is actually very short. With regards to shopping, the distance I have to walk from the bus-stop, the frequency of the bus, and the packness of the bus, are not always helpful. And this is not considering the fact, that its not really cheap to take public transport in Singapore. I mean, much more should be done, resources and effort should be invested into not only thinking of making the public transport companies more profitable, but to make them provide better services (not the tv mobile stuff which don't work most of the time), but better bus networks, such that people don't have to wait long, and don't have to walk far. Ideas such as not having additional basic charges for transfer bus rides, or maybe even a London sort of day pass, would be much encouraged.
If Polanyi's ideas are right, singapore public transport in the last five years, have gone hay-wired with the 'invisible hand of the market', where it is clearly invisible. Obsession with profits and share-holder value is undermining the quality, standards and expectations that people have come to view the public transport system. It is perhaps time, that something is done about it.
I do recognise that the transport problem is a very tricky one, and there are no fast solution, but that is not the same as no solution. Maybe if the bus companies look less at current indicators, and go back to the drawing board on evaluating their servies, things will get better. sigh...
posted by city_walker at 5/28/2005 09:13:00 pm
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