Experts suggest COEs be valid for fixed distance?

[Foxfire]

Cut bus services => cut profit

Promote bicycle => cut profit

COE limited by mileage => improve profit

 

Guess which one will be implemented.

[Sdf5725]

obviously, they do not take bus(es) to work;

obviously, they do not cycling under hot sun and heavy rain;

obviously, their income is high (or they stay very near to their office);

OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE PHD (PERMANENT HEAD DAMAGE) HOLDER.

[Picanto]

obviously, they do not take bus(es) to work;

obviously, they do not cycling under hot sun and heavy rain;

obviously, their income is high (or they stay very near to their office);

OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE PHD (PERMANENT HEAD DAMAGE) HOLDER.

 

that why they are called EXPERTS

 

[Limxiaoming]

Haha if that is the case those who go genting once a week lose out big time

 

Deliverymen lose out.

 

Salesman all lose out.

 

People who stay in the east and work in the west lose out.

 

Everyone will keep their cars until 45000 milage then put at home polish.

 

And milage can be very easily ajusted. Don't tell me all cars will have to install GPS system to track where we go. Like the way SAF track their drivers.

 

People who work in toa payoh and stay in bishan can keep their cars until it becomes older than Honda esi and still no need to renew COE!

 

[Trex101]

Public transport can be better than cars if...

By Maria Almenoar

 

BUSES AND TRAINS

 

Experts' suggestions: Each road here should have no more than two bus services, and commuters should be encouraged to make transfers even if it is a 'pain'.

 

This will increase the connectivity and frequency of buses, said Dr Paul Barter, Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

 

The transport policy expert is also in favour of fewer direct bus services, a move that probably will not go down well with commuters here.

 

'If you have three start and three end points, a direct system would need nine bus services. But with a central node where commuters transfer, you need only three services,' he pointed out.

 

In Bogota, Colombia, commuters prefer buses to trains.

 

The bus system, called the TransMilenio, consists of numerous elevated stations in the centre of a main avenue.

 

A dedicated bus lane on each side of the station allows express buses to pass through on one side without stopping, while regular bus services stop on the other side of the station.

 

Speaking at yesterday's forum, former mayor of Bogota Enrique Penalosa said buses can serve commuters as efficiently as trains. In some cases, buses may even be more efficient and operate at a fraction of the cost of a subway system.

 

Singapore's plan for trains and buses: The Government will double the rail network from 138km now to 278km by 2020.

 

Improvements in bus services are planned too, with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) taking over the central planning of bus routes from the two rival operators later this year.

 

By next year, the penalty for making transfers will also be completely removed to encourage commuters to make more bus-train-bus connections to get to their destinations.

 

BICYCLES

 

Experts' suggestions: Pedestrian and bicycle paths form the backbone of Bogota's transport network. Since building these paths, the number of cyclists in the city has shot up tremendously.

 

To encourage more people to cycle, Mr Penalosa suggested that bicycles be given priority and protection on the roads. He added that bicycle spaces should be made available in carparks.

 

Dr Barter believes that Singapore 'does not know what it is doing when it comes to bicycles' and should ask for help from experts in the Netherlands where there is an extensive network of cycling tracks and many cyclists.

 

'If we do this well, people in suits will ride bicycles,' he said, adding that the weather here is not a deterrent to cycling as he sees 'hundreds' of bicycles parked outside the MRT station in Tampines.

 

This is why he believes that the Park and Ride scheme, which encourages car owners to park near an MRT station and hop on a train, should be scrapped in favour of one that promotes cycling.

 

Singapore's plan for bicycles: Pasir Ris, Sembawang, Taman Jurong, Tampines and Yishun will get about 10km of cycling tracks each. More bicycle parking facilities will also be built at selected MRT stations.

 

CARS

 

Experts' suggestions: Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) should be valid for a fixed distance, say 50,000km, rather than for 10 years, suggested Dr Barter. This 'pay as you use' approach would discourage car ownership in Singapore.

 

'When motorists pay such high prices for their cars, they will instinctively want to use them as much as possible till their COEs expire,' he explained.

 

A distance-based charge would remove the urge to maximise the use of their cars.

 

He also suggested increasing parking charges to reflect the value of real estate in the area rather than having flat rates for public parking, regardless of whether the lot is in the city centre or suburb.

 

Singapore's approach to cars: To control the vehicle population, the number of COEs available is linked to the number of cars scrapped.

 

Recently, the Government cut the COE supply in a bid to slow down the growth of the vehicle population.

 

There is also a gradual move away from ownership taxes towards more usage charges, as can be seen in the extension of the Electronic Road Pricing network.

 

You guys are so screwed if this policy is going to be implemented, another "STRONG MANDATE" from the next erection and this might come true.

 

Screwed on 50k km COE - isn't the whole purposes of COE is to control the car population? mileage base? WTF?

Screwed on parking charge - revenue generating exercise

Screwed on Buses frequency - Buses going to be like MRT, drop in capacity, jam like sardine, take longer time to reach destination. WTF?

 

This "expert" got Ministerial potential leh, another Marlboro Tan in the marking...

Edited May 11, 2009 by Trex101

[Watwheels]

 

Public transport can be better than cars if... but seriously will it be effective without sacrifices?

By Maria Almenoar

 

BUSES AND TRAINS

 

By next year, the penalty for making transfers will also be completely removed to encourage commuters to make more bus-train-bus connections to get to their destinations.

The question is will it increase the fares substantially and leave commuters with little or no choice?

 

BICYCLES

 

Are you serious? Ask bus drivers and see whether they like cyclist.

 

CARS

 

Experts' suggestions: Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) should be valid for a fixed distance, say 50,000km, rather than for 10 years, suggested Dr Barter. This 'pay as you use' approach would discourage car ownership in Singapore.

Won't that drive up the basic costs of everything?? Well done. Drive up fares(bus also need COE, you moron) and basic costs. Solving one problem while creating more at the same time. Bravo!

 

 

 

[Nhyone]

I like Dr Barter suggestion for COE to be tied to distance, but 50k is probably too little. That's just 2-2.5 years on average. Even though Singapore is small, people tend to drive a lot here.

 

As he said, it's more inline with LTA's approach of pay-as-you-use.

 

But LTA has to figure out how to tamper-proof the odometers...

[Kungming]

Lets all just go back to walking loh and work from home now that the IT technology is so advanced liao then problem solved. No one needs to leave their home anymore so no traffic jams and 0 cars.

[Nhyone]

People who work in toa payoh and stay in bishan can keep their cars until it becomes older than Honda esi and still no need to renew COE!

50k or 10 years lah. You think LTA will give you a bargain?

[Junjie]

Bring back good old days of 30-40K COE, no 100% loan, min. downpayment of 30K...scrap OPC.....sure ease the traffic

[Little_prince]

they live in a perfect world and their models are full of inadequate assumptions that do not hold water ...

[Little_prince]

next he will suggest island wide ERP?

[Watwheels]

I cannot wait for them to point out a negative scenario....

 

Wait till you see China...

[inlinesix]

I am actually all for cycling. However, with Singapore's climate, this is almost impossible to convert someone from driving to cycling. Most probably these tracks would be used by people on weekends to cycle or jog, thus not fulfilling its original purpose.

It depends on individual. I luv car a lot especially my blue propeller. However, i have been cycling 5km to work almost everyday since December 2006 in my long sleeve shirt & tie, bicycle helmet & glove. It take me d same time to walk, MRT & walk. I perspire close to the same amount of sweat as i walk, MRT & walk. Most of my walk is thru City Link Mall.

 

[Brianlee_sg]

Well, Expert got to present something, got to submit their homework ma. If not how to be "

expert".

 

Anyway, to suggest a central node for Bus/Train is asking for trouble. Looking at some of our existing interchanges at rush hour and you will know what I mean. Any solution that are "central" in nature got to address issues like bottleneck, single point of failure and redundancy. What if the central node is on fire or

kenna terrorist attack? All no need to work? or are we going to apply the same security standard as what we had did in changi airport?

 

Bicycle- ok no commends as long they dun encourage cyclists to use pedestial paths.

 

Cars - yeah, enforcement issue. Though controlling cars population here in singapore is not simple, so hear

milage-based coe suggestion from THE expert is...

[Application9999]

yi kong si mi lan?

[Felipe]

all suggestions are stupid except cycling. Cars were rare in the past when COE was high. Just get back to basics, think so much for what.

[Felipe]

Well, Expert got to present something, got to submit their homework ma. If not how to be "

expert".

 

Anyway, to suggest a central node for Bus/Train is asking for trouble. Looking at some of our existing interchanges at rush hour and you will know what I mean. Any solution that are "central" in nature got to address issues like bottleneck, single point of failure and redundancy. What if the central node is on fire or

kenna terrorist attack? All no need to work? or are we going to apply the same security standard as what we had did in changi airport?

 

Bicycle- ok no commends as long they dun encourage cyclists to use pedestial paths.

 

Cars - yeah, enforcement issue. Though controlling cars population here in singapore is not simple, so hear

milage-based coe suggestion from THE expert is...

 

It's simple to control car population. It's difficult to control car population and retain healthy car sales, which is what our unrealistic authorities want to do. You just can't have the cake and eat it.