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Tag: congestion

  • Jakarta Seeks To Introduce ERP By End Of This Year

    Jakarta Seeks To Introduce ERP By End Of This Year

    JAKARTA — The Jakarta provincial government is expected to begin an intensive public campaign to educate motorists on its Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system in the next few months.

    The city’s administration wants to implement ERP by the end of 2015. It has been studying the system to reduce traffic congestion since 2006.

    “We have prepared the concept for an intensive socialisation in two to three months’ time on how the community can be informed of the ERP concept in a big and complete way,” said Mr Leo Armstrong, head of the ERP management unit at Jakarta Transportation Agency. “The government will lead the campaign.”

    Two ERP gantries have been erected at two busy roads to test the system. Trials have already been completed and the local government says the results are encouraging.

    PUBLICITY STUNT

    However, transport analysts are not convinced. “This is like a publicity stunt where they just put some fancy gantries in the middle of the road,” said Mr Yoda Adiwinarto, country manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

    “The transport agency claimed that they want to try the effectiveness of the gantry; they want to try whether the on-board unit will work well. The problem is that all the on-board units that they installed were only for the official vehicles. So why bother putting the giant gantries on the public roads? Just try it somewhere nobody knows.”

    The tender for the implementation of the ERP system is expected to be released in June. A one-day workshop will also be conducted among various stakeholders to discuss road pricing regulations.

    One of the challenges facing the implementation of ERP concerns motorists using small shortcut roads. Jakarta has a complicated network of roads which includes small shortcut roads.

    The provincial government is well aware that motorists may try to bypass the ERP by using shortcut roads. But while taking such a route may save some money, it may not save time because during peak hours shortcut roads are even more congested.

    Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has set a target for the ERP system to be completed by the end of 2015.

    Transport analysts believe this may not happen because of the lack of progress on the ground. In addition, the project has been hit by numerous delays over the years.

    MIXED VIEWS

    Motorists have mixed views about the effectiveness of electronic road pricing.

    “Sometimes electronic pricing can be a solution for the traffic but sometimes I think a collaboration system electronic and manual system could be integrated to be a solution in Jakarta because not all the people in Jakarta support electronics,” said one motorist.

    “I think we need more, wider roads,” added another motorist. “The ERP will not have any effect on congestion.”

    Jakarta is struggling to keep vehicle population down, and it hopes electronic road pricing, which means higher costs for private vehicles, will help to solve the problem.

    At the same time, it is improving the public transport infrastructure to encourage motorists to turn to buses and trains instead.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Congestion At New Bedok Integrated Transport Hub

    Congestion At New Bedok Integrated Transport Hub

    While the opening of the Bedok Integrated Transport Hub on Sunday (Nov 30) was marred by some commuter complaints of traffic jams, LTA said on Tuesday that anti-congestion measures had been put in place ahead of the opening of the transport hub.

    These measures include the widening of roads, assigning traffic marshals to control traffic, and the installation of sensors within the interchange that are meant to interact with the traffic lights to control the flow of buses in and out of the terminus, an LTA spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia.

    “However, some time is required for bus operations to familiarise with the new interchange, and to allow some fine tuning during the start of operations,” added the spokesperson.

    ‘BUS FLOW WAS PRETTY BAD’

    After Bedok Integrated Transport Hub opened, some complained that buses seemed to take longer than acceptable to leave and enter Singapore’s largest bus interchange.

    “The bus flow was pretty bad” on Sunday, said a commuter who chose to remain unnamed. He pointed the finger at the traffic light at the junction of Bedok North Drive – the road leading to the transport hub – and Bedok North Ave 1. “The roads here are also too narrow,” he added.

    Ms Emily Kan, 73, said the feeder bus trip from her home to the interchange, which used to take less than 15 minutes, took about half an hour on Sunday and Monday.

    Another commuter, Mr Eric Ng, said that the bus he took to the interchange on Monday at 8.30am took about 15 minutes just to enter the interchange. He noted that on the return journey, the bus he boarded left the interchange without any delays.

    The owner of a shop nearby, who identified herself as Ms Lin, 27, said one of her staff was late for work on Monday evening, having waited 40 minutes for the bus she was on to turn into the interchange. From 5pm to 5.40pm, the staff “could see the interchange but could not get down”, Ms Lin said.

     

    On Tuesday, a resident of one of the blocks directly facing the interchange said the traffic situation had improved since the day before, when she said there was a traffic jam during the morning rush hour. “Traffic has been smooth today,” said the resident, who also asked to remain unnamed.

    “LTA is monitoring the traffic situation closely and will continue to review for further adjustments to enhance the traffic flow,” the LTA spokesperson added.

    “THERE ARE SO MANY BUSES HERE”

    When Channel NewsAsia visited during the morning off-peak period, a string of buses were seen waiting for the traffic light to change in their favour, allowing them to turn right into Bedok North Drive from Bedok North Ave 1. Previously, buses entered the old terminal via New Upper Changi Road. No marshals were seen assigned to direct traffic.

    A commuter at the interchange on Tuesday afternoon, Madam Fathma Adam, 73, said she was not surprised about the jams. “There are so many buses here, and roads are very small, and there’s only one lane leading to the terminal,” she said.

    A shopowner, Ms Liang, noted that compared to the previous interchange, in which about “five or six” buses could stop concurrently to let passengers alight, only three buses can stop at the same time at the new transport hub.

     

    A bus captain who asked to remain unnamed also cited the number of traffic lights outside the terminal and the narrow lanes as possible causes of delays. “There is also limited parking space for the buses inside the interchange,” said the bus captain, who added that it was confusing that two of the three lanes exiting the terminal filtered to the left.

    Not all the chatter on social media was negative, with many lauding the new addition to the Bedok landscape.

    New bedok interchange. Life is good now pic.twitter.com/qnr5p1hjMj

    bedok inter expanding eastpoint opening whitesands renovating airport expanding & siglap restaurants life in the east has never felt so good

    Post by StarHub.

     

    The 1.6-hectare interchange, which is linked to Bedok Mall, allows commuters an air-conditioned transfer to Bedok MRT Station. A total of 29 bus services call at the hub.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • PAP Contributing to Congestion In Town To Celebrate Its 60th Birthday

    PAP Contributing to Congestion In Town To Celebrate Its 60th Birthday

    The People’s Action Party (PAP) is celebrating its 60th birthday today and it just couldn’t wait to let Singaporeans know that its birthday is here.

    And to do so, the PAP has deemed it fit to create traffic congestion in the centre of the city just so that Singaporeans will be aware of its birthday.

    Welcome to uniquely Singapore – where the ruling party believes that after 55 years of controlling government, it can, as a netizen called it, turn the roads in Singapore into its own “grandfather’s road”.

    Today, if you face any jams in the centre of town, don’t worry. You can thank the PAP for it, or blame them, whichever way you fancy.

    The roads that will be closed are near the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall.

    • Old Parliament Lane and Empress Place will be closed from 11am to midnight.
    • The two right lanes of Parliament Place in the direction of Saint Andrew’s Road will be closed from 11am to 1.30pm.
    • The centre lane of Parliament Place in the direction of Saint Andrew’s Road (between Connaught Drive and Saint Andrew’s Road) will be closed from 1.30pm to 2pm.
    • The carriageway of Fullerton Road in the direction of Parliament Place (between Esplanade Drive and Parliament Place) will be closed from 2pm till midnight.
    • Parliament Place in the direction of Saint Andrew’s Road (between Fullerton Road and Saint Andrew’s Road) and the two left lanes of Fullerton Road in the direction of Esplanade Drive will also be closed from 2pm till midnight.

    Of course, no one is saying don’t barge onto the road. If a political party has a birthday, we should all give way and let it have the right of way, shouldn’t we?

    Well, not unless you are the Worker’s Party. Then, even when you decide to organise a cycling event at the perfectly legit East Coast Park, as it tried to in 2007 to celebrate their 50th anniversary, then the police are going to tell you that it “does not allow political parties to organise outdoor gatherings because such activities have the potential for public disorder and mischief, and may disrupt community life.”

    But of course, if you are the PAP, the police can tell Singaporeans that “Traffic delays may be expected” and that “Motorists are advised to plan their route early”.

    But because it is the PAP, and even as the road closures will “disrupt community life”, hey, it’s the PAP.

    Of course, cycling in East Coast Park would definitely cause more disruption to community life than closing roads and creating traffic jams, and causing delays to the hundreds of Singaporeans who will be rushing home for dinner, right?

    But hey, it’s the PAP’s 60th anniversary. Who are we to argue about the “grandfather’s road”, unless we think they have been in power for far too long?

     

    Source:  www.therealsingapore.com

  • Dr Mahathir Wants Removal of Johor Causeway

    dr-mahathir-mohamad
    Photo by Bernama

    SERI ISKANDAR: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today suggested the removal of the Johor causeway in order to build the Friendship Bridge proposed by the government.

    He said the Johor causeway causes various problems, mainly involving environmental issues and traffic congestion, in Johor Baharu.

    “If it is a bridge, then what need is there for a causeway? The causeway prevents water from flowing across and also it is very dirty.

    “It causes the sea to be very dirty, and there is a very big traffic jam in Johor Baharu because the bridge not being built,” he told reporters after giving a public lecture on ‘Leaders in Today’s Society: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward’ at Universiti Teknologi Petronas here.

    Mahathir said he hoped that the government would not build a bridge elsewhere and then leave the present bridge in place because that would not solve the problem of traffic congestion in Johor.

     

    Read more here

    Source: Bernama