More ERP gantries, higher ERP rates to ease congestion!!!

[ricohflex]

They are trying to find a way out of grid lock.
It may or may not work. So far a lot of talk only of less waiting for buses. Wait and see.

I don't expect car users/owners giving up traveling by car anytime soon. Even if the ERP charges are later increased to twice of whatever they have already announced.

In some jobs, people have to be on time and report to work in remote locations. They need the car to get to work on time. And they are paid well enough to enable them to buy and maintain a car.

Another group is the minority of ultra rich to whom the ERP has no meaning. Any system employing monetary disincentives will not work at all with this group.

Buying a car for ordinary people with low or average income represents a milestone (if they could never afford one before). So it is not something they like to give up. I mean psychologically.

If they overdo the concept of using money as a hammer to bash the citizen/consumer into not being able to afford buying a car / afford to use a car. Then it has a potential to polarise society into a stark have vs have-nots.

Today someone wrote to the ST forum suggesting making car ownership upfront exorbitantly high.
Not a good idea.

It is depressing for a large % of the population if they realise that their total salaries for 20 years cannot even buy a fancy limousine that the ultra rich are driving in. Not that the common man MUST own a car. But the very thought of such disparity wrenches their feelings.

It will be sad to return to the old days of COE of >$100,000.

Finally, after reading in newspapers and hearing on TV all the hot air about more frequent buses....today I waited 45 minutes at a bus stop.

 

[Reno]

What is the point of comparing our country with other country.

Each country has their different style of culture. Each country take care of their citizens in their own way, people work in different countries draws different pay. If we were to compare, we compare in here in our own country, our own life style against the rising cost ...etc in Singapore only.

With rising cost in medical, transport.... etc and our salary remain constant for the past few years. It is indeed reducing our budget to spend on expensive stuffs. Why so many people could afford to drive a car, it is probably either they have higher pay or they have their financial plan properly or they are the type that live for today and only worry tomorrow for tomorrow stuffs.

So many things has happen and so many complains will not work over here in our country. New Year is coming, lets enjoy ourself for this and then do proper budgeting for your life. Live life contented.

As usually, I have been cutting down my cost on transport for the past few months. Luckily my place has a direct bus to my work place and the journey time is 3 hours to work and back, i can save quite a bit without taking MRT and transit by bus. :lovegrin:

Happy New Year Folks.

And anyone wants to buy my gitzo G415 tripod? It is in mint condition and i need money for new year. :sweatsm:

 

[vince123123]

Wah 1.5 hours by bus...

 

[Reno]

Wah 1.5 hours by bus...

well.. have to cut cost..... everything is rising fast.... so have to take the cheapest method. :sweatsm:

 

[spindoctor]

- complaining about the inadequacies is all fine and dandy, but acknowledging the virtues is just as important.

I agree with you on this.

besides - come on, whether a transportation system is world-class has no link with how stressed a society is. that's like saying that whether the public toilets are world-class is linked to how stressed a society is. so if society more stressed, the public toilets will be dirtier cos everyone anyhow do business?

Here I disagree. A transport system can only be called world-class if it can perform its function very well in the context of the situation in which it exists. If for example in a "low-stressed society" a bus comes a long every 30 mins, you could argue that there is not much cause for complaint since there is little pressure to get any where quickly. There is no risk of clients complaining if you do not reply quickly or your boss yelling at you if you are late. In a high pressure society however, you can ill-afford to waste so much time commuting. So it may well be that a 30 minute wait for a bus in a "low-stressed society" is acceptable and its transport system would be serving its purpose but in a highly -stressed society, a 30 minute wait is unacceptable and therefore the transport system cannot be said to be world-class because in the context in which it exists, it is not performing its function very well. Therein lies the link.

 

[night86mare]

Here I disagree. A transport system can only be called world-class if it can perform its function very well in the context of the situation in which it exists. If for example in a "low-stressed society" a bus comes a long every 30 mins, you could argue that there is not much cause for complaint since there is little pressure to get any where quickly. There is no risk of clients complaining if you do not reply quickly or your boss yelling at you if you are late. In a high pressure society however, you can ill-afford to waste so much time commuting. So it may well be that a 30 minute wait for a bus in a "low-stressed society" is acceptable and its transport system would be serving its purpose but in a highly -stressed society, a 30 minute wait is unacceptable and therefore the transport system cannot be said to be world-class because in the context in which it exists, it is not performing its function very well. Therein lies the link.

so in a less stressed society, the bus can come every 2 hours and it'd still be world-class? so long as everybody is happy?

in fact, if no one uses the bus at all, because everyone is too rich, it can never come and it will still be world-class, i.e. the buses are all clean, sparkling new, function properly, but sit in the depot all day long. note that this is of course, an extreme example but i hope you catch my drift.

this is my issue here - how is a public transportation system world-class? there are so many issues here, obviously you would not just limit it to usage by the society living within the country itself, there are other people, such as overseas visitors, etc. i think other than transport frequency, there is also condition of maintenance, reliability (i.e. your train does not break down), service attitudes, security, disability friendliness, cost-efficiency ratio, enjoyability of ride, accessibility, the list goes on. but none of this has any link to being stressed or not.

in all fairness, i have not been in singapore for a while, since last sep. but when i was still there, it seemed fine to me. during rush hour i would expect to miss one or two trains. maybe the situation has deproved, but i can't say for sure, since in the past got people complain even though it is reasonable. i have to see it for myself when i'm back i guess. but based on situations described online, when i have the time to read, it does seem to be deproving, for whatever reason, i couldn't say. but still, i do not know.

it is true what someone said to me, there isn't a real need to compare countries since each society has its own needs, demands, and situation. fair enough. but i think every country needs to maintain a minimum standard, especially for cities, and in there, comparisons can be made with regards to the attitude of the government in ensuring this minimum standard. i will speak from my experience in london - the taxes are significantly higher in terms of raw percentages, the tube is sickeningly dirty, and on certain lines the lights flicker on and off erratically giving you a "train to hell" feel. on some mornings you can see puke all over the carriages that no one has bothered to clean from last night's drunken escapades, ventilation is sub-standard, and sometimes when moving off from platforms the train has no power to start, it will jerk and sway and cause general nausea. on one day the driver, apparently in a bad mood, threatened over the pa to "put this train out of service" if passengers did not exit trains faster. on bad mornings, you can wait for trains to zoom past and past because they are too full, and stand on the packed platform for half an hour. sometimes you don't even get to stand on the platform, you have to stand outside the platform because the staff think that the platform is too overcrowded. that's for peak hours.

with all due respect, i can understand why they cannot upgrade and revamp the entire tube system, perhaps the british are stuck in a rut, because the volume is so high, and the city depends wholly on it. if singapore halted the mrt for one day, it might not be so bad (although it would be), but london is significantly larger, and ownership of cars, i suppose, would not be as rampant. but doing it in stages, is not impossible really, so i'm wondering why they have not initiated anything like that. every plan touted to improve on this has been shelved because of various problems , it all seems like excuses.

that's the tube. the buses here can be suddenly put out of service even though they are supposed to follow a certain route. many of my schoolmates have experienced this - they are just ordered to clear the bus, and then take the next one, paying the fare AGAIN. but at least the buses are cleaner.

i think the only time when i felt very happy with the public transportation system was in hong kong - the mtr line was something like what i have been used to through the years of my life. other than that, i cannot really recall much. i hope you see where i'm coming from, and perhaps it is biased based on my experience, but this is what i feel, as do many others, especially those in the uk.

 

[vince123123]

HK MRt good, you can see which direction you're going and which stop you're at/travelling to

 

[soeypixels]

http://cdn2.libsyn.com/mb/tmbs-080204-2many2count_erp_drift.mp3

mr brown funny rap on ERP again..

2 Many 2 Count - ERP Drift
I wonder if you know,
How they live in Ang Mo Kio
Go to city many gantry
Can't afford your speed too low
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Slow is dangerous (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)
I wonder if you know,
How they live in Toa Payoh
Please lah tolong, only Lorong
Not Expressway also tio!
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Spread like virius! (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Many many taxes danglin
ERP now is randomin
Keep your speed 'bove 45
Or everybody Cashcard won't survive!
Suka suka ERP on
Happy happy gantry can born
16 new ways to gope your lui
See already want to pui!
Gahmen say take MRT
Cos car is only luxury
Build the road for Fellari
Normal car will up lorry
Ji Pa Ban (uh!), Ichiban (uh)
No million dollars you Lan Lan
CTE is the place to be
Singapore road for VIP
I wonder if you know,
How they live in Ang Mo Kio
Reach work early, at 5.30
Spend three hours drink teh-o
Can't be seraious! (wah lau!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Live like vampires (ouch!) (beep! beep! beep!)
I wonder if you know,
Where the gantry never grow
Where the lorry Never worry
Travel freely where you go
Pulau Bukom! (Don't have!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Pulau Tekong (Huat ah!) (beep! beep! beep!)

 

[Yappy]

The year is 1996 or 1995 when COE was $100,000. Your paid $250,000 for a Audi!