Supra Neutral Newbie August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Here is a nice economics student giving ERP theory in Orchard area posted on the Straits Times Forum. Happy reading. Quoted from the url as below. Raise Saturday ERP rates to ease gridlock I REFER to the letter by Ms Naleeza Ebrahim, 'Saturday ERP keeps Orchard Rd traffic going' (ST, Aug 29), and could not agree less with the views of the Land Transport Authority (LTA). From where I live, I have a perfect view of Cairnhill Road and Orchard Road and the weekend traffic gridlock is appalling. There was one Saturday evening when I missed four green lights even though I was just metres away from the traffic junction. Being a student of economics, I understand the relationship between the demand and supply of road utilisation. During the weekends, demand for the use of Orchard Road is far more than what the road network can supply, therefore a price, in the form of ERP, must be imposed to regulate demand so that there is optimal utilisation of the road. Unfortunately, many motorists don't understand the ramifications of not having ERP on Saturdays: emergency vehicles would be caught in jams, endangering the lives of whoever requires their service; goods vehicles would be delayed, resulting in late deliveries and affecting trade; the environment would be damaged by the fumes of vehicles; oil prices might rise in the long run due to wastage of petrol while engines continue running in jams, etc. I had even contemplated writing to LTA to suggest a further increase in ERP rates for the Orchard area during peak periods and on Saturdays. One of the reasons why rates for ERP are so high and are in operation for longer hours is to discourage the use of private vehicles downtown and as an incentive to take public transport. Furthermore, the tax collected from the ERP can be used to fund projects that benefit the environment, to offset the pollution caused by vehicles caught in jams. I thank the LTA for doing what it thinks is best for society. Pavin Limanont http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Sto...ory_153376.html ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnchee Clutched August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Amatuer economic student, P.ape P supporter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soonalvin Neutral Newbie August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 omg. gridlock in orchard road can cause rise in oil prices?! singapore must be larger than the red dot i think it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supra Neutral Newbie August 31, 2007 Author Share August 31, 2007 Well, in this world, theory and pratical do not mix together. So... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furrynadz 5th Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 can we arrange for a chroming party? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultramega 1st Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 is he on LTA scholarship? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomia Neutral Newbie August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 "From where I live, I have a perfect view of Cairnhill Road and Orchard Road" Obviously, this one is very rich, staying very near to cairhill. "Furthermore, the tax collected from the ERP can be used to fund projects that benefit the environment, to offset the pollution caused by vehicles caught in jams." And BTW, did this happen when we have pay so much road tax, fine and COE to LTA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa Neutral Newbie August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Firstly this guy is definitely not a Singaporean driver and he must be from the a foreign land. I hope my comments are not rubbish as I am not as gifted as him to be able for admission into university to study economics. Since he is a students from economics faculty, he should realised that Singaporean income has reach a level whereby 1 or even 2 dollars increased does hurt their pocket - which is the current charges during weekend - hence it does not deter us to drive our car to Orchard (and since it does not act as a deterent what purpose does it serve to have this charges). Perhaps he should have suggested that Erp should increased until a level which 90 percent of the drivers in Singapore find it unjustifiable to drive their car to Orchard (may $50 per entry) Then everyone of us who need to travel to Orchard road will use public transport, thus it will offer fortunate human being like him who stay in Orchard road to enjoy a better view with no cars piling up in sight, lesser pollution for him to live longer. But once again preaching by his 'demand and supply theory', if everyone going into Orchard road begin to fully utilise public transport, will he as a foreigner enjoy to be packed like sardines in our MRT train system or our super first class SBS buses. Increase in Erp also add woes to the taxi drivers, who will want to drive in to orchard to pick up their passengers. Assuming that if government if so decided that taxi should not be subjected to Erp, then we will also see most singaporean flocking to the taxi stands, then maybe we will see another letter by Mr 'Pavin The Economist' to suggest LTA to increase taxi fare on weekend to discourage people from using it especially in orchard road where he is staying or to increase the mrt/bus fare for passenger alighting at Orchard during weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perrier 1st Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Kindly assist to include me in your guest list, would love to do my part for Singapore. Foreign Trash must be rectified and disposed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mivec9 1st Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 unfortunately he dun drive. he is just doing a so-call research and seems rich. well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutty 4th Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Aiyah... just a typical pro-gahment forum posting in ST... We need to educate our family and friends to open their eyes big big and don't just read whatever that is published. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will_I_Am 2nd Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Then we buy car for f**k? Park in HDB carpark so as to make our season parking more worthwhile? With our fast increasing car population, our roads are definitely going to be choked up. By having ERP, it only shift the problems to 2 areas : 1. Other roads with no ERP, causing it to be choked up, and indirectly allowing LTA to erect another ERP gantry to plug the problems. 2. Other timing outside the ERP operation hours, and again indirectly allowing LTA to extend the ERP operating hours. The above 2 points is already happening and will take effect this coming Oct/Nov. These are common sense and it is really sad that our "scholars" fails to realise this. One of the reasons why rates for ERP are so high and are in operation for longer hours is to discourage the use of private vehicles downtown and as an incentive to take public transport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfenstar 3rd Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Although economic dis-incentives can help discourage, without alternatives and other non-economic disincentives, the situation won't really be helped. Its actually a typical Singaporean method of "just raise the cost". I've written back to the the ST Forum with suggestions to encourage taking public transport, as well as discouragement through parking restrictions and increased ad-hoc parking costs, and an idea to encourage car-pooling via a dedicated 2 or more passengers rule to drive on the extreme right lane during certain hours. Next up would be to write in with suggestions for our ridiculous road tax system next week. Can someone remind me pls Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poper 2nd Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 I can't recall once when LTA justify their ERP changes with quantifiable improvement. Eg. By raising price to $2.50 (or extending to 11am), the average speed along CTE is forecasted to improve from 40Kmh to 55Kmh. If LTA's solution is to raise ERP prices and install more ERP gates indefinitely, then I also can "solve" traffic congestion problem. Just make it $50 per entry loh.. sure work one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kianbeng Clutched August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 is he on LTA scholarship? He wasn't. Now, maybe he will get it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemz Clutched August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 as an economics major myself, the problem underlying traffic congestion in singapore is simply COE. ERP can only help ease congestion by that little margin given it's current pricing scale, until we see peak hour ERP rates charging at 500% of prevailing rates, it's seriously not going to help smooth orchard rd's traffic visibly. Even so, the possibility of drivers "unknowingly" travelling into the restricted area will only add on to congestion and get caught in that congestion trap, only making the situation worst off. So the best solution is still to tighten COE supply, and reduce the no. of vehicles OTR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony 1st Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 ya.. agree with your point of view. and to add on, it definitely does not need an econ students to rant their 10years series on a newspapers. Guess the writer is going to be a very one sided economist that is not able to look things at various perspective . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beei 1st Gear August 31, 2007 Share August 31, 2007 Furthermore, the tax collected from the ERP can be used to fund projects that benefit the environment, to offset the pollution caused by vehicles caught in jams. I thank the LTA for doing what it thinks is best for society. Pavin Limanont http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Sto...ory_153376.html Yeah, right (in red)... nowadays got alot of gungho students appear to talk nonsense.. ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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