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https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Indonesia-presents-China-made-high-speed-train-cars?utm_campaign=GL_asia_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=1&pub_date=20221004123000&seq_num=5&si=44594 Indonesia presents China-made high-speed train cars Railway to connect Jakarta with Bandung; operations to start in June 2023 A total of 12 sets of eight-car trains, approximately 200 meters in length each, will be delivered in the future. KOYA JIBIKI, Nikkei staff writerOctober 3, 2022 21:48 JST JAKARTA -- Indonesia has presented in public the cars of the country's first high-speed train connecting the capital Jakarta with Bandung, a major city in West Java, with commercial operations expected to start in June 2023. The cars, presented to the media on Saturday, were manufactured by a company under China's state-owned train manufacturer CRRC. The covers on the cars were not removed throughout the event. The cars arrived at the port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta in early September. A total of 12 sets of eight-car trains, approximately 200 meters in length each, will be delivered in the future, including those for inspection According to Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), an Indonesia-China joint venture for the high-speed rail project, the cars consist of VIP seats, first- and second-class seats, and a dining car. With a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the new railway connects Jakarta and Bandung, a distance of about 142 km apart, in as little as 35 minutes, compared to 3.5 hours by the existing railway. There is a plan for Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Chinese President Xi Jinping to take a ride together for a test operation of the new railway in November. Xi is scheduled to attend the Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit in Bali the same month, which Indonesia will chair. Initially, Japan was considered a strong contender to win the order for Indonesia's high-speed railway project. However, Widodo adopted the Chinese proposal on condition that China would not require Indonesia to bear any financial burden. Nevertheless, the completion of the project has been pushed back from the original target of 2018 due to delays in land expropriation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Construction is approximately 90% complete, and the railway is expected to open in June 2023. The total construction cost exceeds the initial estimate of $5.5 billion. In October 2021, the Indonesian government reversed its previous plan and decided to invest government funds. The parliament is scrutinizing the amount of money needed.

119 killed !!

Poor folks, hope those alive get rescued. they are in deformed train carriages stuck inside the tunnel. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/taiwan-train-carrying-350-people-derails-truck-rescue-tunnel-14543694

Ever seen one of these foldable bicycles? The guy below probably has not. Now, this might not be very useful information (because it is not allowed) but apparently, our local train's railing can support a non-foldable bicycle. We thought it is an ingenious way to park or store one away. For those who are wondering what on earth is happening, below is an extract replicated from SMRT... "Some of you may have come across a video that is circulating online about a commuter with a bicycle on board a train. At around 7.10pm on 15 Dec, an SMRT staff tried to stop a male commuter with a non-foldable bicycle from entering the train at Woodlands station. The male commuter was uncooperative and forced his way into a north-bound train. The commuter subsequently transferred to a west-bound train at Jurong East station and exited at Pioneer station at about 7.50pm. We have since identified the commuter and made a police report. For the safety and comfort of all commuters, we would like to remind everyone to observe regulations when bringing foldable bicycles and personal mobility devices on board trains and buses." Check out what netizens have to say about this guy who flouted the law...

Hi there Anyone has experience booking online the KTMB train shuttle from Woodlands to JB Sentral (opposite City Square) ? I wanna book early online to bring kids in... If book online we can board with e-ticket ? There seems to be a few websites but which one is most reliable, thanks.

Japan have the safest rail record does not mean accident will not happen. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/japan-yokohama-train-truck-collision-accident-people-injured-11875426

TAIPEI: At least 17 people were dead and 126 others injured after a train derailed on Taiwan's east coast on Sunday afternoon (Oct 21), authorities said. The train, Puyuma Express 6432, was travelling from Taitung and derailed near Yilan county near the coast, on a railway popular among tourists. "As of 6.30pm there are 17 dead on site and 126 people injured," the Taiwan Railways Administration said in a statement, adding that the train had been moving between two stations in Yilan County before the derailment occurred. Taiwan's central government said that rescue services were at the scene and that the premier had been notified and was highly concerned over the safety of the travelers. At least six compartments of the train overturned, said Taiwan Railways Administration, according to Apple Daily. Taiwan's Central News Agency reported that more than 30 people were still trapped in the train early on Sunday evening. Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/taiwan-train-derail-yilan-accident-10849598

Guys, I have a problem here...... my current Indo maid who has followed me for 4 years wants to go home. Great maid, no complaints, only compliments we employed a Myanmar maid and she is currently understudying the Indo maid. Problem: Myanmar maid Cons: really cannot speak english.....real comms issue here.....not quite intelligent so not much cmmon sense power Myanmar maid Pros: very hard working, willing to learn, New Indo maid Pros: Ah Ma can speak a bit of Malay so solve the comms issue New Indo maid Cons: take a risk on the character part Should we train the Myanmar maid to speak English by giving intensive English lessons, maybe in DVD form or Should we go get an Indo maid?

No vampires or zombies, but plenty of sun, sand, and sea... And food galore too.. Being a seaside place, you can expect good seafood, but I also saw a few type of food that I have never seen before.. This one left the greatest impression! Looks like... well I will let you guys use your imaginations Of course, there's more regular stuff..

NSL between AMK and Marina South Pier.

Something interesting to share. Entering or remaining in a fully packed train is an offence that is liable to $500 fine. Source: http://vulcanpost.com/4451/netizen-calls-smrt-a-retard-you-will-be-fined-for-entering-or-remaining-in-a-full-train/

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/lta--smrt-form-te...isruptions.html LTA, SMRT form team to help minimise train disruptions The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and beleaguered train operator SMRT have assembled a team of rail experts to look into the recent string of MRT disruptions over the past week and explore ways to minimise such incidents. According to The Straits Times, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said on Saturday that the disruptions were

4.6% REDUCTION IN BUS & TRAIN FARES FROM 1 APRIL 2009

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=853390721346302&set=vb.100000261468433&type=2&theater

France Train Shooting - First Video Immediately After Gunman Tackled First footage emerging from the Paris Train Shooting, France. 21/08/2015. See the SECOND video taken on board the train at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=03c_1440223970 Description of Events from the US Armed Forces involved in the Incident Members of the Oregon National Guard and Air Force on some R&R in Europe. Terrorist on train with an AK, pistol, and knife. He exited the toilet with AK at the ready and tried to load and fire off his first clip, tried to load again and dropped the clip/AK. Assailant was rushed by Armed Service persons, he raised AK and tried to fire. He then dropped the AK and reached for pistol which is dislodged from hand. A knife is then pulled and one of the Armed Forces personnel receives injuries to face, neck and almost hand (almost severed finger). The AK is now in the hands of other Armed Forces member who quickly loaded clip and pointed at terrorist to shoot, but was jammed/misfired, so instead the buttstock of the AK is put to the head of the terrorist and he is secured to ground. At time of video, looking for the pistol. News Report At least three people have been injured after a man, reportedly armed with a Kalashninov rifle, opened fire on a Thalys high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris on Friday. The attacker was apprehended by two soldiers traveling on the same train, according to local media.The shooting occurred near the town of Arras in northern France around 6:00pm local time (4:00pm GMT). The attacker has been detained by the police. According to La Voix du Nord, a US and British soldiers apprehended the attacker after hearing the noise of a machine gun being loaded in the toilet. One of the soldiers was shot, while the other was stabbed in the struggle with the gunman. The third injured person is reportedly French actor Jean-Hugues. The 60-year-old has starred in over 30 movies, including international hits Killing Zoe, Betty Blue and Nikita. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRCs9cP3G4

Even a blardy SWEET!!!!!

Life is too stress everywhere. . http://www.channelnewsasia.com/mobile/asiapacific/two-feared-dead-in-japan/1949976.html

女郎晚上下班后搭地铁，坐在疑被人放置腐蚀性液体的座位，臀部被烧焦入院。 事发时，女郎在莱佛士坊转换地铁，一上车看到有空位就坐了上去。谁知坐下后，就感觉裤子湿湿的，发现座位上有液体，以为是水，也不以为意，换到对面的另一个座位。 不到一分钟，她的臀部突然传来阵阵的灼热感，原本打算在政府大厦下车，但想早点回家，决定忍一忍。 岂料到了多美歌地铁站，臀部的灼热感变成刺痛，她再也忍不住，马上下车到女厕查看，骇然发现右臀

PREVENTION is considered the best approach to modern healthcare. Instead of treating a health issue when it occurs, it is more effective to prevent it from occurring in the first place. The same goes for our rail network. To maintain the health of this vital service, it is important for the operators, Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) and SBS Transit, to take on the role of doctor by checking the network's pulse and reacting swiftly if it misses a beat. Singapore has grappled with disruptions to train services in recent months, including a delay on the North-South Line in January that affected some 19,000 commuters during the peak-hour rush. With an expanding yet aging network that now carries more than 2.5 million passengers a day, it is even more important to undertake regular health checks. SMRT and SBS do undertake regular rail infrastructure upgrades, although often as a result of deterioration and service disruptions. Earlier this year, 120km of the Circle Line's power cables were replaced following power outages in 2011 and 2012. In February 2013, 1,600 U-bolts holding up the North-East Line's power lines were also swapped after corrosion resulted in disruptions in early and mid-2012 and early 2013. But it is encouraging to see that operators are starting to proactively monitor the network's pulse to detect issues before they arise. Implementing a Big Analog Data™ system - which enables physical data such as train speed, vibration and heat levels to be remotely collected, analysed and converted into digital data - will allow operators to identify and fix issues before they even occur. The cost savings from such adaptive learning techniques will also be much more significant compared to post-breakdown maintenance. Plans are in place to upgrade the network to develop a fully integrated, multifunctional monitoring system, which will enable early detection of issues and reduce the risk of outages, with some trains on the North-South and East-West lines already equipped to collect real-time measurements and statistics and identify problems as they run. Real-time data detection devices could greatly support network functionality and maintenance as part of a broader system covering all lines, but like preventative measures to improve personal health will take time to implement and take effect. Issue-specific monitoring In France, the Régie Autonome de Transports Parisiens (RATP) recently renewed its maintenance monitoring process. RATP operates the city metro and the regional express network (RER) which transport around three billion passengers a year, making it one of the most widely used public transport networks in the world. One of the key issues facing the RATP is rail movement, with environmental factors such as changes in temperature impacting the position of the rails. This means that RATP needs to constantly monitor rail position, a cumbersome process which was carried out manually until 2011. Three years later Railshift, a completely autonomous system for acquiring, processing, analysing and reporting data was implemented on a segment of the RER to monitor rail movement. Twelve measuring stations were set up to capture rail positions and monitor movement, using image processing and analytical technology. Track position measurements are analysed and e-mail alerts are distributed when a critical threshold is reached, enabling service crews to attend to issues before they become larger problems that could disrupt services. Automating track position reading has not only made data analysis more regular, but has also made the process safer for operators, as manual interaction with the track is no longer required, particularly when the trains are running. Image processing is also available through the application to take instantaneous measurements of larger areas of infrastructure, saving time and money. The implementation of the measuring stations has proved to be so successful that RATP has planned to install another eight new measuring stations. Holistic condition monitoring Another example of the benefits of using integrated remote access monitoring systems is in Holland where VolkerRail carries out maintenance work across the country's rail network, during which it is required to maintain a minimum railway operating time, or face hefty fines. To deliver the required up-time, VolkerRail installed an online condition monitoring system at the most critical points across the network, including tracks and level crossings. The system has now been running for over two years. A server stores all the data in a database. On this server, queries run constantly to detect event failure patterns, show trends and send text message alarms to surveillance teams. By taking multiple measurements and monitoring them over time, VolkerRail is able to track the current "health" of the infrastructure. Automatic analysis of trends enables VolkerRail to detect potential problems and have the maintenance crew attend to them before they cause service disruptions. Being able to pinpoint the location and time an issue occurs also help in ascertaining the likely cause, decreasing downtime during repair. Within a year, more than 200 complex monitoring systems were installed across Holland's rail network to track the status of rail infrastructure. Singapore's rail network will continue to expand in line with the Land Transport Authority's plan to double the length of the national rail network to 360kms by 2030. We simply cannot miss the train when it comes to service reliability and commuter safety. With proactive planning and investment in equipment that allow SMRT and SBS to monitor its pulse, we too can have a fully integrated, real-time monitoring system to help keep the network's health on track. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG by Chandran Nair The writer is managing director, South-east Asia, National Instruments. Since 1976, National Instruments (www.ni.com) has equipped engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery

EXCITEMENT is high over the proposed Malaysia-Singapore high- speed railway (HSR). But first, significant hurdles need to be overcome. The two countries must decide on pressing fundamentals. These include the ownership, financing and operating models, as well as the project structure. Then come decisions such as route alignment, number and location of stations along the way, form and location of checkpoint, and finally, location of depot and terminal stations. Terminal stations should ideally be in the two city centres, as it would provide the best accessibility to travellers. But this may not be technically feasible or cost-effective, as both city centres are highly built up. Already, Malaysia has identified Sungai Besi, a location 15km from the Petronas Twin Towers, as a site. That would be about the same distance that Jurong East (a location that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong seems to favour) is from Singapore's Central Business District. If the two terminals are in Sungai Besi and Jurong East, a door-to-door commute by HSR is projected to be 190 minutes - still considerably faster than 255 minutes by air. But these are details to be ironed out further down the line. First and foremost, the two governments must be convinced that an HSR will be equally beneficial to both Singaporeans and Malaysians for generations to come. And they must have the political will to see the project through. Indeed, besides financial capability, it is political will that is powering China's HSR programme. For cross-border projects, it was the political will of the Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitterrand administrations that paved the way for the London-Paris HSR. If Thatcher and Mitterrand could get the English and French to work together, despite the two countries' legacy of bitter rivalry, there is Hope yet for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR. It is a project the two sides have been mulling for 20 years now. If it gets off the ground, it could potentially form the first leg of a South-east Asian network that links all the way up to China. A look at the history of HSRs across the globe shows that worldwide, they do not seem to have a strong or clear proposition for many countries. Ever since the first line started running in Japan 50 years ago, only 15 other countries have followed suit with their own systems. In comparison, 126 metro systems were built in 50 countries over the same period. But once overcome, the benefits are many. Initial obstacles ONE of the main impediments to HSR projects is cost. And because of the protracted nature of such projects, and their long gestation, cost overruns are also common. For instance, the London-Paris line was projected to cost £1 billion when the two countries agreed to build it in 1986. By the time it was fully opened in 2007, the bill had escalated to £11 billion, according to a report by The Telegraph. Land acquisition and environmental concerns (mainly noise pollution) are two other hurdles to HSR projects. Often, the latter cannot be overcome by going underground because of prohibitive cost. But even if a line does go underground - as in the case of the proposed Tokyo-Nagoya maglev project, through a mountain range - it will still raise the ire of environmentalists. The fringe benefits of an HSR project are not as apparent as those of a metro line, either. Property prices along the line seldom appreciate. In fact, they are liable to do the opposite. Reports by British realtors indicate that home prices near a new line from London to Manchester have already fallen by 40 per cent - even though the first trains are not expected to run till 2026. Yet, whenever a HSR line is finally built, it proves its worth fairly quickly. Faster, green commute HSR provides a fast, smooth, safe and clean commute. In a study of fatalities per billion passenger-km operated, the National Society of French Railways found HSR to be significantly safer than travel by air, road and conventional rail. It is also the greenest. The study found that HSRs in Europe emit only 12g of CO2 per passenger, versus 30g for buses, 115g for cars and 153g for airlines. (France's HSR system supposedly emits only 2.2g of carbon per passenger - because electricity there is largely nuclear.) Train tickets are also generally cheaper than airfares, and often, trains are faster door-to-door than planes. The Chinese example AND there is no better place to witness the rising popularity of HSR than in China, which has the largest HSR network at 10,000km - nearly half of the world's combined network. And it is an impressive network, too. When I took an HSR from Guangzhou to Wuhan in mid-2011, I was surprised by how luxurious it was. The seats and legroom were comparable to Business Class on a premium carrier. And even at 330kmh (this was just before the speed curbs following a fatal accident later in the year), it was as quiet and vibration-free as an A-380 plane. In fact, I found it to be slightly more comfortable than Japan's Shinkansen, and far better than France's TGV. I had commented to China Railway Corp officials how expansive the Guangzhou South train station was (bigger than some international airport terminals), and how sparsely occupied the trains were. But I was assured that both would be filled soon. Indeed, HSR is hot in China today. So much so that airlines are feeling the heat. According to a World Bank report in 2012, within three years of operation, China's HSR had adversely affected domestic airlines. "Some short-distance air services have been completely withdrawn... routes from Zhengzhou to Xian and from Wuhan to Nanjing both survived only a few months after the opening of HSR," it read. Air travel demand between Changsha and Guangzhou, a distance of about 600km, has fallen from about 90,000 passengers a month to 30,000. Airline profits have also plunged, even in cases when actual passenger volume has increased. China Air for instance, posted a 32 per cent drop in earnings last year to 3.26 billion yuan (S$656 million) - despite a 0.4-point improvement in load factor to 80.8 per cent. HSR ridership is still growing, with the state adding more trains and building new lines. According to a forecast reported in The New York Times, China's HSR network will carry more passengers per annum than the 54 million carried by US domestic airliners by this year. The only question mark hanging over China's HSR success story is profitability, and how long it will take to recoup the hundreds of billions in sunk cost. In fact, this was one reason why the World Bank said it was "cautiously optimistic" about the future of HSR in China. But the Chinese do not seem overly concerned. To the government, it is too early to talk about financial payback. Instead, it is pushing ahead with expansion plans, both in terms of increasing the capacity of its current system to cater to growing demand, and expanding the network. Changsha station for instance, will soon have 32 platforms - double today's 16. And it is all of four years old. It is also said to be aiming to build another 15,000km of lines by 2020 - some to join up with lines in neighbouring countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. China to Singapore by rail? LAST October , Chinese Premier Li Keqiang opened an exhibition in Bangkok with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promoting a high-speed railway that would link China, Thailand and Singapore. The proposed line would be able to carry passengers from Kunming in China to Singapore in less than 12 hours, reported China Central Television. If this comes about, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR that PM Lee and his Malaysian counterpart, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, aim to build by 2020 may become the first leg of a South-east Asian network. The story does not stop there. Professor Wang Mengshu, a rail expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was quoted in 2010 as saying that China was exploring HSR links all the way to Europe. If so, a traveller here could reach London by rail in under two days. That is, going by today's HSR capabilities. China is working on much higher speeds. It is home to the world's only commercial magnetic-levitation (maglev) system. The 30km line takes passengers from downtown Shanghai to Pudong International Airport (30km) in seven minutes, reaching a top speed of 431kmh. (I took a ride on it in 2005, and it was like flying at ground level.) Japan has conducted test runs of its new maglev trains, reaching close to 500kmh. And China is said to be testing a "Vactrain" - a maglev in an enclosed vacuum tunnel - capable of 1,000kmh. If these come about, one could commute from Singapore to London by train in 15-16 hours (including stops) - faster than a door-to-door commute by air (17-18 hours) today. That is unlikely to happen in the near future. But 400-500kmh trains are conceivable, even without maglev technology. It is therefore wise for builders of new lines to take this into consideration - to ensure that the tracks, power lines and signalling systems are capable of handling such speeds, or can be scaled up to do so. But even before Singapore and Malaysia get to discuss such technical issues, they have to overcome the initial hump: Get over the barriers of high cost and environmental concerns, manage public expectations, and demonstrate clear political will to turn the Malaysia-Singapore HSR from rhetoric into reality.

Between the unfortunate saga of flight MH370 and the recent Grand Prix, Malaysia has been on the radar more than usual lately. And now our neighbour has popped up again, once more related to transportation issues, as Kuala Lumpur is working on a new subway system. Which isn't something we'd normally care about, but this subway just happens to have been designed by BMW. Or one of its divisions, anyway. While BMW makes all manner of automobiles and motorcycles and even has a background in aviation, its subterranean transportation business is handled by DesignworksUSA, a network of design studios that fall under the BMW Group umbrella. The California studio recently designed a refresh for San Francisco's BART trains, and has now turned its focus on the Malaysian capital. The trains penned by BMW DesignworksUSA are based on the Metro Inspiro system engineered by Siemens and will be built in Malaysia by domestic constructor Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd. The 58 driverless, four-car trains feature LED lighting, handicapped access and contrasting-color doors for easy embarking and disembarking. Larger wheels make it ride quieter and after their planned 30-year life-cycle, they'll be 95 percent recyclable. But our favorite part (whether it makes it onto the finished product or not) is the signature BMW racing stripes flanking the stainless steel coachwork... you know, because racing.

Events in recent years have underscored the need for Singapore to ramp up its transport infrastructure, as well as to rejuvenate what has already been built. Overcrowded trains and buses, long and unpredictable waiting times, and glitches in the rail system have been top grouses since as early as 2004. It did not help that Singapore's population grew by more than 30 per cent in the last decade to hit 5.4 million last year. Public transport ridership soared by more than 50 per cent over the same period to 6.36 million trips a day. Meanwhile, two major rail breakdowns in December 2011 brought into sharp focus the need for infrastructural upkeep on the back of fast-rising usage demand. The Government has responded fairly swiftly. But experts say a sustainable solution to managing public transport demand also needs measures such as increasing flexi-work arrangements, telecommuting or decentralised office hubs. On the capacity front, the Government is setting aside an estimated $2 billion to replace ageing parts in all the major rail lines together with rail operators. It is also in the process of rolling out a bus service enhancement programme - likely to cost in excess of $1.1 billion - which will boost fleet size by 20 per cent. And in January last year, it announced a slew of new lines that will grow Singapore's rail network to 360km - double its current length. This is on top of $60 billion of investments in place for ongoing projects such as the Downtown and Thomson lines. In all, transport-related projects may cost more than $150 billion. This is more than 40 per cent of Singapore's total foreign reserves last year, and seven times the 20-year transport infrastructure spending envisioned by a White Paper released in 1996. By any measure, it is a highly ambitious programme. The question is, will it be economically sustainable to go on ramping up capacity this way? This is especially when capacity is often designed to cater to peak demand, which is usually less than two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Hence such a network tends to be "underutilised" for the rest of the day. Average bus occupation, for instance, is only 20 per cent. Transport experts have thus called for other measures such as promoting flexible working hours and telecommuting. Attempts to stagger working hours were made back in the early 1970s to ease traffic congestion. But the campaign never did gain much traction. According to a study published by the Manpower Ministry in 2001, flexi-time was practised by only 0.3 per cent of all private-sector employees. Telecommuting was even more uncommon, with a participation rate of merely 0.1 per cent. And those who work entirely from home accounted for just 0.01 per cent of employees. While more current figures are not readily available, there are signs that flexi-time is still not widely accepted. Last June, the Transport Ministry launched a year-long free-tra-vel initiative to encourage commuters to travel just before the morning peak, following a Travel Smart initiative rolled out in October 2012 to persuade people to shift their peak-hour travel time by 15 minutes. Response was encouraging initially, with around 9 per cent of peak-hour commuters travelling earlier. But this has since fallen to 6 to 7 per cent. Certainly, the scheme has potential for improvement - perhaps even without additional tax spending (the year-long free tra-vel initiative costs $10 million). In 2004, a study by the UK Strategic Rail Authority found that train overcrowding can be eased substantially by widening the differential between peak and off-peak fares. This means giving off-peak fare discounts or wai-vers, as well as raising peak-pe-riod fares. Not only does this help the operator maintain financial viability, but the shift of peak demand also reduces the financial burden of having to run additional trains during peak hour. Analysts suggest the savings here would more than cover the cost of providing free fares. However, adjunct Professor Paul Barter, who teaches transport policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, says there are limits to what flexi-time arrangements can do to flatten peak travel volumes. This is because there is "dynamic tension" between two things that people want: a regular schedule that gives them fixed times at home or with friends, and more comfortable travel. Because of this tension, people will modify travel patterns "even without the Government doing anything". And if there is less overcrowding during the peak period because some commuters have altered their travelling time, others will move in to fill the space freed up. Prof Barter, however, notes that flexi-time can contribute to shorter peaks, which range from "five to 10 minutes in Canberra to three to four hours in Jakarta". Also, if people were free to adjust their travelling time, "they would complain less", he said. He feels that many employers in Singapore "are more rigid than they need to be" in this respect. Indeed, a survey by the Land Transport Authority in 2012 found that the top reason for workers not telecommuting was that employers rarely allow it. And about 80 per cent of 1,500 people polled said they would take up flexi-work arrangements if these were made available. Finally, experts say a decentralised city is key to improving accessibility without increasing mobility. Even though Singapore had a decentralisation strategy since the 1980s, it has not gained much traction - until now. "There was a time when it was felt that having a big CBD (Central Business District) was good for the economy," recalls Prof Barter. "But I think it is better to have many sub-centres across the island." Now, several sub-centres are in the works, including Jurong Lake District, Woodlands and the Kallang Riverside. All these will allow more people to live near where they work, and work near where they play. Meanwhile, cities the world over are increasingly looking to "soft" demand management measures to spread out peak loads on transport systems. In 2008, Melbourne started offering free travel to commuters who arrive at the CBD before 7am. It led 23 per cent of commuters to travel out of peak hours. Monetary measures are not the only way to temper peak demand. In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, London embarked on a public education and awareness campaign to prepare for the foreseeable surge in travel demand. The programme included reducing the need to travel, spacing out journeys, shifting to walking or cycling, as well as re-routing to less busy routes. The result was encouraging. Despite record ridership - London Underground, for instance, carried 4.52 million passengers on Aug 9, the highest in its history - the transport network coped well. Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi has spelt out a transport mobility management strategy as it prepares for a possible trebling of its population by 2030. It includes park-and-ride, car-sharing, flexible working hours, and telecommuting plans. All these are in place in Singapore, even if they lack scale. But things may be changing. Last year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority unveiled plans for a 700km cycling path network by 2030 - thrice the length of the current network. And URA chief planner Lim Eng Hwee leads by example: He cycles to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rtxm30NULU and how they do it. No wonder they never have a breakdown

BIG Idea No. 2 is a no-brainer: Make Singapore’s public transportation No. 1 in the world. Why is it a no-brainer? Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur as well as Bangkok and Manila face the danger of more or less permanent gridlock with massive traffic jams. I pray and hope it will not happen, but I am also prepared to take bets it will. But even if our neighbours strangle their cities in this way, their countries will continue. Singapore does not have this option. If our city strangles itself to death with massive traffic jams, both the city and country will collapse. Good public transportation is therefore not an option. In Singapore it is a critical necessity. Unrealised potential FORTUNATELY, we have all the ingredients in place to create the world’s best public transportation system: money, meritocracy and motivation (the three Ms). We are one of the richest countries in the world in terms of financial reserves. We can pay for the best system. We also have one of the best civil services, if not the best, in the world. I know this well as several leading global scholars have asked me why Singapore does so well in public administration. Few other governments in the world can match the quality of minds we have in our Administrative Service. And we also have the motivation. For us, good public transportation is a matter of life and death. With all these assets in place, it was truly shocking to read in The Straits Times on Feb 13 that Singapore’s MRT system is average in the world in terms of system breakdowns. According to Christopher Tan, senior transport correspondent for The Straits Times, “breakdowns on the 125-year-old, 340km, 24-hour New York City subway average one every 260,000km operated. Singapore’s 25-year-old, 180km network breaks down once every 120,000km”. When I told a Harvard professor this fact, he was astounded. He asked me: “Should I be proud of New York or worried for Singapore?” What happened? How did we go from being almost No. 1 in the world in MRT systems to falling behind ancient systems like that of New York? What mistakes did we make? How did it go so badly wrong? And what can we do now to reverse this negative slide and move towards making Singapore truly No. 1 in the world in public transportation? A 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that Singapore’s public transport systems ranked behind those of Toronto, London, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Please let me stress one point here. I am not an expert on public transportation. I do not have enough data or information to explain what went wrong. All this requires a massive study. However as an amateur analyst of Singapore’s public policies, I believe that I can point out three challenges Singapore will have to overcome to succeed in its goal of becoming No. 1. All three challenges begin with the letter C. Critical mistakes THE first challenge is conceptual. Public transportation is a public good, not a private good. However, when Singapore was at the height of its infatuation with the Reagan-Thatcher intellectual revolution, we believed that the private sector was better at delivering some public goods than the public sector. This may explain several critical mistakes. My friends in the civil service have told me one of the biggest mistakes we made was to privatise the Public Works Department (PWD) and sell it off. In so doing, we lost both the engineering expertise and a storehouse of wisdom about the maintenance of public works. I hope that some day somebody will try to recreate the old PWD we used to have. We may have also made a mistake in privatising the MRT system, handing over the operation to private companies rather than government departments. In theory, private companies are more efficient than government departments in delivering services. Since they are concerned about the bottom line, they cut costs well. However, private companies do not factor in “externalities”. Hence when the private companies cut down on the maintenance of our MRT tracks to cut costs, they did not factor in the “cost” to the Government’s credibility when the system began to break down frequently. It will literally, not metaphorically, cost the Government billions of dollars to recover this lost credibility. This explains why the Government has provided SMRT with $500 million to improve the maintenance of the MRT tracks. This, in turn, creates public confusion as taxpayers ask why their money should help the bottom line of private companies. There is a simple solution. We should consider making the Ministry of Finance the sole shareholder of all our public transport companies, just as it is the sole shareholder of many government-linked companies. Fresh approach needed THE second challenge is the culture of conservatism. Having invested billions of dollars in an extensive train and bus system, we have worked under the assumption that we can only “tinker” with an established system and not start from scratch. This is a very dangerous and conservative assumption. If we work under this assumption, we will be reluctant to look for structural defects in our current system and be equally reluctant to explore bold and radical moves. If we are going to succeed in our goal of becoming No. 1 in the world in public transportation, we have to consider radical as well as conservative approaches. Here is one radical suggestion: Organise a global competition to encourage universities, think- tanks and global companies all over the world to put forward a new blueprint for Singapore’s public transportation system. There is a lot of expertise out there. A $10 million prize would be sufficient to attract a whole slew of new blueprints. And $10 million would be a small sum to spend considering the billions we have to put in to deal with systemic flaws. The winners of this global competition could be announced when we celebrate our 50th anniversary next year. Social experiments THE third C challenge we face is “comprehensiveness”. Public transportation can work well only if its planning is well integrated into existing urban planning policies. Each limb of our national planning must support other limbs. Let me cite a few examples. First, we have to deal with the “car” problem. As I explained in my previous column, despite the many disincentives put in place to discourage car ownership and use, we have actually created an ecosystem which makes it more rational to drive a car than to take public transport. We now have to create a new ecosystem that discourages car ownership and use. For a start, we should encourage new road experiments to change behaviour. In the year 2015, as part of our 50th anniversary celebration, we should exempt all taxis from paying Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges for one year. The goal of this social experiment is to see whether Singaporeans will make the rational decision to leave their cars at home and take taxis into the Central Business District to save on ERP charges. At the same time, we will also discover whether this leads to a surge in the supply of taxis in the CBD. This increase in supply of taxis in the CBD could, over time, increase demand and use of taxis in the CBD. I don’t know whether this will happen. Nobody knows whether it will happen. This is why we have to try out bold experiments. The financial cost of giving taxis exemption from ERP charges will be peanuts compared to the benefits we will get if people leave their cars at home. A downtown HDB estate? SECONDLY, we should consider the merits of building a massive HDB estate downtown. A lot of land will be freed up when the Marina Bay Golf Course lease ends. Why not build a big HDB estate there? The obvious response will be that the land is too expensive. But the land will not be as expensive as the land in Manhattan. In October 2011, I visited Manhattan in my capacity as chairman of the nominating committee of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (New York subsequently won the prize in 2012). On this visit, the surprising thing I learnt was that Manhattan had a policy to ensure that it did not create an environment where only millionaires and billionaires could afford to live. Hence, even though the mayor of New York City then was a billionaire, Mr Michael Bloomberg, his administration worked hard to set aside land in this expensive midtown and downtown area for workers to live. Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Market Place Plan was designed to build and preserve 165,000 income-restricted units by June this year for 500,000 New Yorkers. It was the largest municipal affordable housing plan in American history. To some extent, this is what we did when we built the Pinnacle in Tanjong Pagar. We should now replicate the Pinnacle experiment in our new CBD. It is true that Singapore citizens who live in this CBD public housing will get a subsidy. However, if they use less public transportation to commute into the CBD, they will not be using the subsidies that are being given to every user of public transport. We will also enhance the social harmony of Singapore by giving less well-off Singaporeans a stake in the CBD. The third social experiment we can try is to build shoe-box garages next to every MRT station. The idea would be to allow us to walk out of an MRT station and rent a two-seater air-conditioned electric vehicle to take us across the last mile of our journey (and back). Clearly, our hot and humid weather makes it difficult to walk the last mile to our destination. Hence we have to create ingenious solutions to encourage people to avoid driving and take public transport. And soon we may have driver-less vehicles which will be able to do this job too. There are many ways we can make Singapore’s public transportation No. 1 in the world. If there is one country in the world that has the means and motivation to achieve this goal, it is Singapore. So why don’t we just get started?

Not too sure how did this guy get these clips... Warning : Some might be disturbed by this clip. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c09_1182439418