ERP on ECP to rise

autumncs SG

When I take bus 30 everyday, I noticed a lot of cars on the ECP which have only one person. And there are massive jams on ECP everyday just because of these "single drivers"... Maybe the government should try to attract people to carpool. If 4 people can share one car instead of 4 people driving 4 cars, we can reduce traffic by a large extent and make the environment cleaner! As an alternative, the same 4 people can ride motorbikes instead. At least 4 motorbikes occupy less road space and pollute less than 4 cars. In the past, the government promoted "Park & Ride" at major interchanges and MRT stations, but what happen now? "Park & Ride" is so rare nowadays that many people don't even know such a term exist! Why did the government forget park & ride?

If the government want to increase ERP, please target cars with only one driver. Or offer incentives for car-pool vehicles. Promote park & ride. Improve public transportation to encourage more drivers to switch to public transport. When I visited Seattle (USA), I was impressed with the dedicated lanes on expressways for buses and car-pool vehicles. Maybe Singapore can do the same on CTE, PIE and ECP and introduced special lanes for high-density vehicles.

One terrible thing that Singapore did was to cut a large number of bus services when the NEL was built... Many people who relied on services such as 501 and 502 suddenly lack direct services from their home to their workplaces. To many people, they prefer a direct and more comfortable service rather than to take a feeder bus, change to NEL, and change to SMRT trains at Dhoby Ghaut/Outram Park. Hence, when the direct bus services were withdrawn, many people chose to drive instead of taking NEL... and the result? The CTE is clogged everyday, while the NEL is not fully utilized. Later, the ERP was raised on CTE, but what is the point? With a higher ERP on CTE, people clog up other roads instead. Same for ECP... With a higher ERP on ECP, people will clog up Nicole Highway or Kallang Road or PIE... Instead of raising ERP, why not focus on new bus services that travel along ECP?

Whenever I'm on a bus 30 stuck in a jam on ECP, my heart hurts. Why are there so many selfish people who drive one car all by himself/herself, and yet, public transport supporters like me who take bus every day are the ones who suffer the effects of traffic jams?

Rock^Star SG

Try owning a car and u will know it's not easy to have strangers in your car every morning. Laughing

Traffic jams are a fact in every major city in the world. S'pore's jams are still manageable. Try KL, Bangkok or HK, it's much worse.

foomwee88 SG

I think u r donkey!!!!

Dont how 2 count ma!!! suck!!!! Laughing

foomwee88 SG

every dog has its day!!! yr day is numbered!!!

foomwee88 SG

My sis said u r liar!!! all lie no true!!!

cant u be a dog psle std!!!

2ook sporeans oversears u still want to lie like a dog!!!!

Rock^Star SG

I know the figures do makes sense. Just quote the source. Simple as that.

Rock^Star SG

At the end of the day, citizens of a country are but just mere pawns manipulated by the govt. The govt has to be responsible.

An eg:If there are no laws in a country, then rapes and killings go on a rampage. Shd the citizens blame the govt for it? YES.

Another eg: North Koreans are fearful to speak up against their leaders. Reason being that such actions result in severe punishment. This is due to their govt? YES

A govt's policies shape the culture and behaviour of it's people. A relaxation of COEs and downpayment ruling has resulted in a lot of "no money" car wannabes buying cars. Govt's fault? YES and it does not justify the amount of revenue collected in exchange for a mountain of debt to the people.

oxford mushroom SG

I like your ideas and I completely agree with you. Car-pool has been tried before and it had a limited amount of success when the government introduced restricted zones in the 1970s. Cars with at least 4 persons within were exempt from the charge. The reason why it did not work is given by Rock^Star. Singaporeans are too selfish and treasure their privacy too much to share a car.

Park and Ride does not work because the cost of ERP is not punitive enough. Motorists have made the capital investment in their cars and paid their road tax. The additional amount they pay in ERP is nothing compared to what they have already invested. On top of that, once they factor in the MRT fare, car park charges and the loss of 'prestige' walking to the office from a crowded MRT train, this option no longer becomes attractive. That's why for such schemes to work, the ERP must rise further to punitive levels and there must be greater discounts for car park/MRT fare for motorists who participate. This is something the government must consider...but for it to work, ERP prices must rise higher.

It can work. The costs of driving in London is so high (congestion charge, parking charges) and traffic so congested outside the Congestion Zone that most people use public transport to go to work. There are lots of people who live in Oxford and work in London. They park their cars near the coach station, take the 1.5 hour coach ride to London and transfer to the Underground to go to work each day.

The reason why many parallel bus services were withdrawn when the NEL came up was of course a typical business decision. The bus companies thought that the passenger numbers will drastically drop when the NEL came up and it would no longer be economical to run a service when the buses are empty.

If what you say is true and there is a demand for parallel bus services despite the NEL, write to the bus companies to re-consider. If there is money to be earned on a route, they will not turn it down. However, perhaps you are the minority and most people prefer the NEL.

I like the suggestion of allowing car pool vehicles to use bus lanes. We need incentives like these to persuade Singaporeans to abandon their vehicles. More carrots to entice them and we also need to use a bigger stick to dissuade others from car ownership.

anonymouscoward SG

This is a problem that our government is reluctant to solve. Public services should be public services. Take China for example, the train rides are 3RMB per entry (regardless of the number of stops). It is heavily subsidize but it works. There train network is not as sophisticated as Singapore's but people rather take the train and walk/cycle rather than buy a car (even though it is cheap).

Stop privatizing public services, subsidize it from tax collected (instead of investing them in failed overseas venture) and rise car price. Our govt needs to be responsible to the environment and to its people.

If you haven't read or watch 'The inconvenient Truth', I strongly encourage you to do so. It is showing in GV now.

sunny6110 SG

I remember when I was young, one of the reasons pple migrate outta singapore is becoz It was difficult to own a Car in Singapore ... People complained lots then

Then dunno izzit the asian economic crisis the makes car cheaper in singapore or is it the government trying to make singapore more "Homely" by making cars more affordable.. People still complains now?

i_1974 SG

Now cars are cheap mah.....easier for youngers to afford mah

Now cheap car like pica cost only

With a pay of 2.5 is enought to buy it.

Maybe later the car price shoot up, then i will give up driving.

End of the day.... when in my life can i won 4 wheels

sunny6110 SG

I was wondering Y during the economic crisis SG dollar did not drop as drastically as like wat our neighbouring countries did... I suspect our taxes, fines, rich reserves etc. contribute to this...

if not, someone enlighten me?

anonymouscoward SG

Our currency is balanced against a number of foreign currencies.

sunny6110 SG

Yah. An unknown basket of currencies.... But how is it done? wat happens when large speculators abandon sg dollar?

Rock^Star SG

Cars are cheaper because COE has dropped 4 or 5 fold since early 2000. What decides the COE price? According to the LTA website, it's VQS (Vehicle Quota System). Don't ask me what that is, the explanation in LTA's website does not seem clear.

Cars being affordable may not be such a gd thing after all. It has resulted in an explosion of $0 downpayment and many many people are in huge debt. Shd the car encounter a serious accident and total scrap has to be imposed on the car, the owner is left with a huge loan to repay but no car to drive. Insurance can only cover to a limited extent.

COEs can only be collected every ten years of a car's cycle but ERP is collected by the millions daily. More cars will mean more revenue and also the govt is "making everyone happy" by allowing more car ownership. Laughing

oxford mushroom SG

Originally posted by sunny6110:

I remember when I was young, one of the reasons pple migrate outta singapore is becoz It was difficult to own a Car in Singapore ... [b]People complained lots then[/b]

That was why the government allowed more COEs to be issued and that made car ownership more affordable. To balance the expected rise in car usage, the ERP was introduced.

I think the more efficient way to control congestion on the roads is to limit COEs. Unfortunately the government listened to the people's complaints and relented on the initial policy.

Sometimes a government must do what is right for the country, not whatever is popular.

oxford mushroom SG

As I said, they increased the quota allowed for new vehicles on the road and issued more COEs. They had listened to the people who wanted to own cars, thinking that change in policy will make them more popular. It didn't.

A government cannot act based on popularity polls. They must do whatever is right, even if the policy is unpopular.

BillyBong SG

Are you so quick to assume that the govt 'listened' to the people and increased the COE quota? Or were they merely 'jumping along the band wagon to increase their own coffers?

With a govt so calculative in their assessment of cost benefits to themselves, surely the overall aim was to increase the number of COEs issued to earn more revenue, and raise the prevailing ERP gantry prices at the same time, a double wammy against motorists who are already paying road taxes.

With this methodology, it would be a simple case for the govt to claim wanton innocence by pointing to the masses of singaporeans who WANT to buy a car, not because they were encouraged by the govt to do so, when it was in fact the ridiculous 5Cs championed by govt officials and published in the ST that set Singaporeans off on a vicious rat race.

anonymouscoward SG

To add on to what BillyBong said, if our govt is so attentive to "listen" to its people; Why is the govt no listening to the people in do something about vice in Geylang, rising cost of living, help for the needy/handicap, freedom of press etc? Maybe our govt has master the art of selective hearing.

The only instance, I recalled, the govt has responded very swiftly was against comments by Mr.Brown.

Even our ministers acknowledge that REACH (formerly known as feedback unit) was widely perceived as not listening as all the "suggestions" get lost in that big black hole.

sunny6110 SG

No geylang = higher Crime rates/ suicide rates... Which may in turn affect Foreign Direct Investments...

Rising cost of living is inevitable in developed countries like sg where there are oso rising gap btw the rich and the middle class unless the government put a cap on how much the rich can earn per yr which is Impossible as it is the rich who is providing employment....

Opps.. too long my sentence.. Confused

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