Do we have too many or too few parking spaces in the CBD? There is disagreement on this issue. Read this article. http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC120116-0000003/The-CBD-has-too-many-parking-spaces
Two points are not in dispute:
Two points are not in dispute:
- Our roads are too crowded in the CBD
- The taxi service is poor, i.e. costly, unavailable at busy times
These points are connected. If we have an efficient and affordable taxi service or some form of local transport, there is no need for so many people to drive into the CBD, and no need for more parking spaces.
What is a local transport service? It is my description of a service involving small buses and taxis that ply within a town or the CBD. As they do not travel outside of their zone of operation, the licensing requirement can be relaxed. They can pay a daily fee and be exempted from ERP and other charges.
If we tackle the problem of local transport. we will have the framework to solve the larger issue of transport in Singapore. I hope that the Ministry of Transport will seriously consider this suggestion - to improve local transport.
5 comments:
I have raised the issue of improving our local transport many times in the past.
My views were published in the newspapers. I have also written to LTA and the Minister for Transport and spoken to LTA officials. But, in our Singapore culture, it gets nowhere. So, the problem becomes worse and worse as the years go by.
I pity PM Lee for inheriting this culture but blame him for continuing to promote it.
Pay & Pay are out of ideas. They are addicted to cheap forms of revenue which is print COEs, more parking lots to collecting parking fees, more vehicles for petrol taxes, more vehicles to suck for ERPs.
Their mentality is throwing more 'bodies' to feed the economic 'fire'.
I don't expect the overcrowdedness & congestion to be resolved to a significant extent. Their mindset is like Titanic which is very hard to change course for a 'big' party entrenched for 50years.
Congestion in Public transport, disappearing act of Taxis and high cost of taxi transport has been there for a long time & made worst with influx for foreign workers to boost GDP. Keep to the old ways for solving this problems & continue to draw million dollar salary is not going to make GE 2016 voters happy. Minister cannot solve problem yet PAP parliament approve their million dollars salary every year. Continue this path has erroded the trust and confident of the PAP Government. To accept Salary Review Committee recommendation is not a lasting solution as the top of Money First and National Service Second will continue to paint a picture that Ministers care more about money as compared to WP who worked hard last 5 years to win Aljunied without extra pay. Aljunied voters are not stupid. Having 2 Ministers in Aljunied looks good on paper but in reality, the Aljunied voters may be frustrated that the PAP Aljunied GRC are not helping and the Ministers are extremely busy most of the time. If you are paid highest in the World, then you are expected to solve transport problem even though LTA/SMRT/SBS are actually the do-ers while the Minister just oversees and hope that there is no new crisis in his watch. Think out of the box. Cut your million salary deeper and solve the problem. Prove to us you can solve problem before talking about money. Singaporean are not stupid. Since the transport Minister job is to oversees & report, then don't expect million dollars salary as the work is mostly done by LTA/SMRT/SBS stuff. The Govt cannot expect to put the blame on SMRT/SBS when they continue to pump in foreign workers, PRs through MOM. Sometime I wonder why there are so many china PRs selling food in Hawker Centre. Is getting a PR is easy? No wonder there are so many foreigners in Sgp earning a quick bucks while we continue to participate in National Service and Reservist while continue not able to find jobs in our middle age.
My experience within CBD is actually not the worst. I think CTE is worse than anywhere else during the peak hours; followed closely by ECP and PIE. TPE can be very bad at certain sections. The other highways are not much better.
I foresee that when the new North-South express way is opened, it would make the CBD area around its exits looking like parking lots!
My personal view is that we have too many vehicles in Singapore these days. While the land size remains the same, the car population keeps growing. Many people own cars for the wrong reasons.
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