... I think, what one writer to the papers
suggested, should have been done long ago instead of waiting
until countless increases in ERP charges...
... my point is; the buying of cars, was made too AFFORDABLE!
Eg., "Low Downpayment of $3000 Only, Drive Home Today!" adverts are
all over the papers!
=============================================================
Ease jams, make upfront car cost exorbitantly
high
Sat, Feb 02, 2008
The Straits Times
I REFER to the Transport Ministry's plan to substantially increase
the number of ERP gantries and up the charges. The Transport
Minister also said that the solution to growing fat is not to
upsize the trousers. However, my question is why have we allowed
ourselves to grow fat in the first place?
Looking at how the vehicle population has grown 25 per cent over
the last 10 years, it is no surprise we are hit by traffic jams
frequently. The notion that just because the road network has grown
by a certain percentage so we can accommodate a similar growth in
car population is flawed because the increase in road network is
mostly happening in outlying areas and new towns being built.
However, it is the same ECP, PIE, Jalan Eunos, Jalan Besar, etc,
that will suffer the effects because these are arterial roads.
Something is also not right when I frequently hear from friends
about how their young colleagues, barely months into their first
job, are already getting their own set of wheels.
ERP will control traffic flow to a certain extent, but it
ignored one important but common human trait: When people run late
in the morning, many would simply say 'hey, what the heck - just $5
to $8 more solves my lateness problem' and head straight for their
cars.
So the most effective solution to congestion is simply to make
the upfront cost of having a set of wheels exorbitantly high - like
in the past.
The other problem with having such a huge car population but
controlling movements only during weekdays is that driving on
weekends is becoming a nightmare. I have been caught in no fewer
than five jams on a typical Saturday afternoon because the CTE is
jammed, Jalan Eunos is jammed, Paya Lebar is chock-a-block and the
Bencoolen-Lavender area is choked.
A drive into any shopping mall or heartland shophouse area will
entail joining a queue into the carpark, followed by a search
within for a lot.
And now, with buildings having reduced number of parking lots,
many drivers eventually end up rejoining the roads to look for
another lot nearby.
The previous requirement for building owners to have a certain
number of parking lots has now been relaxed. Why throw out
something that had served us well?
To get back to the good old days of smooth traffic, the car
population should be reduced - accompanied by measures to make
public transport attractive.
Next thing you know, public transport fees will be raised again
because many more people has turned to using it, and thus
maintenance fees have increased. As a result, need to increase
fares.
