Transport System Good but not Good Enough
SG Transport System Can Lah..
With aging ambulant and lucid parents, I am fortunate. So.., they have been able to commute to their jaunts without much issue on public transport that includes taxis. Occasionally they are given car rides considering their age (80+), agility and their sometimes-laboured movement.
Going by all the public announcements, car rides would be the privilege of a few very soon. Whilst most time we get by using public transport there will be times when the car makes a big difference, for instance when we have weary parents with items on hand to transport and given the flexibility of the choice of route comfort and timing.
Often inconsiderate PMDs, cyclists, other wheeled users and indiscriminate parking are encountered, there is just too much to complaint about that most are resigned to the situation, gives a sigh, jump aside and allow them thru. Today motorcyclist also seems to share pedestrian walkways and crossings too, thus increasing the number of hazards just from walking on walkways to the node. These miscreants should be put into their place of being in second place only to pedestrians.
Public transportation is great for moving masses to and from a location to another and for the daily commute to and from work, however it lacks the required permutations of need.
To say that the public transportation is inadequate or not good would be an unfair statement, rather I see it as not been granular enough to support the whole spectrum of the commuting needs. When a catastrophically failure occurs resources are not mustered fast enough. Effective alternatives are not present to cater to the 1500 or more passengers per train trip.
Private vehicle ownership on the other hand is too costly to sustain, leaving the majority to use public transportation over time saving convenience and flexibility.
While the G has promised that a transport node would be within a 400m reach, the notion has been attained but it has morph to one where the number of transfers or journey time in arriving at the final destination needs to be tackled. Buses take a circuitous route for optimal operations but it adds time to the journey. More would take public transport if routes lead straight to the final destination without requiring transfers, for example, Sengkang to Harbourfront, or where the transfers provides significant savings in time and cost, e.g. Sengkang to Pasir Panjang.
To discount private vehicle ownership from commuting transport system only means that more door to door transport means need to be explored and provided as it is usually the daily commute of the last few kilometres where public transportation cannot fulfill. If private vehicle was drastically reduced then public transport needs to fill the laguna. Moreover the main form of transit must not fail in any respect since few affordable alternatives are available. From a commuting public perspective, the alternatives were not equipped to handle the hundreds at any one instance of catastrophic failure. The expectation was that all major issues were resolved in the last major outage that required sleepers to be replaced and the third rails contacts needed cable ties.
While proponent of G say SG transport is already very good when compared to other countries, we agree it is just good not outstanding. We are becoming a nation of followers just following current treads we rarely become very good but just as good. In addition, the G cannot thrust upon to keep swallowing their transport system failure at the same time keep faith in their management, when small things turn catastrophically bad to the point there is no service and the replacement service simply cannot cope.
We have become mediocre, good staff (great attitude and skills) become disengaged and disenfranchised when others with agenda and ambition strike for themselves only and exploit loopholes creating more inconsistency making it difficult for others to follow through.
Hence the G needs to make travel on to and from our transit system more pleasant:
1) to integrate all ancillary services and the feeder routes as part of the transport system (taxis, private hire car, motorbikes, all types of motorised vehicles) ;
2) to free the pedestrian walkway of all miscreants, (education does not work in Singapore context. Heavy penalties are needed to ensure change of behaviour.)
3) to reduce the transit time between transfers and offer direct routes to locations and out-laying areas.
4) Service to public first and foremost not to just satisfy shareholders afterall Public has a stake in the public transport system and the electorate system.
References:
Update 4 May 2018
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/e-bike-rider-jailed-punching-elderly-pedestrian-10194182
Update 4 May 2018
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/e-bike-rider-jailed-punching-elderly-pedestrian-10194182
Bharti
Jagdish, 20 Dec 2017
Commentary:
Commuters need to accept MRT closures but can't keep swallowing bitter pills, last
viewed 29 Dec 2017
Amanda Ross, Li Qing , Nequa Huang, 16 Dec 2017
Commentary: Vehicle growth rate cut may lead to increase in
housing prices in some areas
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-vehicle-growth-rate-cut-may-lead-to-increase-in-9487462, last viewed 29 Dec 2017
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-vehicle-growth-rate-cut-may-lead-to-increase-in-9487462, last viewed 29 Dec 2017
Adrian
W J Kuah, 15 Dec 2017
06:48AM (Updated: 15 Dec 2017
06:50AM)
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-an-inter-agency-committee-to-deal-with-mrt-tunnel-9496132
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/commentary-an-inter-agency-committee-to-deal-with-mrt-tunnel-9496132
Derrick A Paulo, 29 Nov 2017,Low-income and owning a car. Why?,
CNA Insider
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/low-income-and-owning-a-car-why-9449930
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