DriveAllDay
Well-Known Member
Dear all
I have written a thought piece on new ERP policy, and would like to send it to ST Forum. Before I do that, I would like to share it with you. Please let me know if I am totally bonkers and mad...
Comments most welcomed.
Hopefully this will generate some healthy, constructive debate.
Peace.
=========================================
LATEST ERP POLICIES COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND ACTS AGAINST PUBLIC INTERESTS
Singapore’s congestion pricing mechanism, the ERP, has been internationally praised as an effective and efficient public policy in traffic management. Yet recent moves by Land Transport Authority (LTA) in increasing number of gantries and pricing are counter-productive, and threatens to run against public interests.
To understand why this is so, it is necessary first to differentiate the two types of congestion pricing. The first is effective; the second is not.
DESTINATION CHARGE IS EFFECTIVE; TRANSITION CHARGE ACTS AGAINST PUBLIC INTEREST
Destination charge is effective since it addresses motorists’ fundamental demand to be at popular destinations at peak times. When levied correctly, the charges optimise road use and give priority to those who need it most and are willing to pay for it.
Transition charge, on the other hand, only affects the way in which motorists travel to their destination. While we can argue that it too optimises road use, we need to note two fundamental issues with this charge:
Transition charge is a highly addictive for policy maker: It is easy to implement (just erect a gantry), is free (except for gantry set up cost), and generates revenue. It tempts policy maker into enforcing charges whenever traffic bottlenecks emerge, instead of finding genuine, fundamental solutions to ease congestion: proper urban planning to ensure adequate roads for new land developments, road upgrading, and better road designs.
As a result, public interests are not served: traffic system as a whole does not improve, people are inconvenienced, and total tax burden increases.
At the extreme, the public is punished for bad decisions/policy, while the policy maker rewarded.
UPPER BUKIT TIMAH: A CASE IN POINT OF POOR PLANNING AND FAILED CONGESTION MECHANISM
To illustrate, let’s look at the Upper Bukit Timah area. It is a case in point of poor planning unsolved by congestion mechanism. There, severe traffic congestion is a direct result of poor urban planning, not car ownership growth.
The government’s decision to develop and transform entire Hillview, Bukit Panjang, and Bukit Batok into upper-middle income estates is to be applauded, but it also added thousands, if not tens of thousands of families to the area. Yet the new developments are not accompanied by necessary transport infrastructure. There’s no MRT, and the LRT is inaccessible and inadequate. The entire region is still mainly served by an old trunk road running from Woodlands into Bukit Timah.
Road improvements are too little, too late. Adding an extra lane does little to ease congestions with many unnecessary traffic lights, and double T-junctions (See Dairy Farm and Hillview T-junctions less than 100m apart). The Jalan Anak Bukit underpass, which took years to build, created more problems than solve them.
The soon to be added TWO ERP gantries (one along Upper Bukit Timah, one along BKE towards PIE) will do nothing to ease congestion. The two gantries essentially made the only access roads from the entire area toll paying. Children will still need to go to school, parents will still need to work. With inadequate public transport (bus downtown takes 1.5 hours each way, MRT is a drive away) residents will have no choice but to drive, pay, grumble and join the congestion each day. The charges will be incurred, but the congestion will not ease.
EFFECTIVE CONGESTION PUBLIC POLICY REQUIRES MULTI-PRONGED SOLUTIONS, AND INCENTIVES ALIGNED WITH PUBLIC INTERESTS
What then, can the government do? No one solution will work. Below are a few suggestions, which in combination should achieve far more than adding transition charge:
Stick with destination charges, but reduce transition charges. The rationale has already been explained.
Fix existing road/systems and remove bottlenecks. Sometimes little improvements make a huge difference. Build overhead bridges to reduce pedestrian crossings/traffic lights at busy roads. Expand / extend lanes for filtering out and turnings (see Clementi / Ulu Pandan junction). Convert opposite, double T-junctions into single four-way junctions to reduce traffic stops.
Optimise traffic lights system. There are countless stretches of road with alternating green and red light sequences which ensure that traffic stops at every light. Examples include Middle Road, Upper Bukit Timah Road, and Clementi Road. A simple reprogramming will ease traffic tremendously.
Improve urban planning. For one it does not make sense concentrating schools in the same areas. See Steven Road and Bukit Timah Road for examples: the congestions are designed and planned in. New towns and estates require adequate roads and public transportation - please don’t repeat the Upper Bukit Timah oversight again.
Adopt better road designs. Have exits from highways come before merge-ins, instead of the other way round. A large part of CTE congestion is caused by vehicles entering it lock-jamming with vehicles trying to get out, and not caused by overly heavy road use. Connect highways -- the fact that PIE intersects CTE, but offers no access from one to the other (city-bound) is a major oversight and a puzzlement to motorists.
The above recommendations are but a sample of solutions, and they are much tougher than planting gantries. Some will require investments, but all will require thoughtfulness and dedication towards finding fundamental and genuine solutions. True greatness comes when government goes beyond administering to sharing and owning problems together with its people -- that’s when innovation emerge to help make a difference in people’s lives. We expect nothing less from this great government.
I have written a thought piece on new ERP policy, and would like to send it to ST Forum. Before I do that, I would like to share it with you. Please let me know if I am totally bonkers and mad...
Comments most welcomed.
Hopefully this will generate some healthy, constructive debate.
Peace.
=========================================
LATEST ERP POLICIES COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND ACTS AGAINST PUBLIC INTERESTS
Singapore’s congestion pricing mechanism, the ERP, has been internationally praised as an effective and efficient public policy in traffic management. Yet recent moves by Land Transport Authority (LTA) in increasing number of gantries and pricing are counter-productive, and threatens to run against public interests.
To understand why this is so, it is necessary first to differentiate the two types of congestion pricing. The first is effective; the second is not.
- Destination charge, which taxes motorists for entry into a destination. An example is charging for entry into CBD during peak hours.
- Transition charge, which exerts a fee for road use between two points. Examples include charges for use on major highways and selected roads.
DESTINATION CHARGE IS EFFECTIVE; TRANSITION CHARGE ACTS AGAINST PUBLIC INTEREST
Destination charge is effective since it addresses motorists’ fundamental demand to be at popular destinations at peak times. When levied correctly, the charges optimise road use and give priority to those who need it most and are willing to pay for it.
Transition charge, on the other hand, only affects the way in which motorists travel to their destination. While we can argue that it too optimises road use, we need to note two fundamental issues with this charge:
- It diverts traffic problems to non-toll roads, but not reduces it. While toll road traffic improves, non-toll road traffic worsens. Motorists take detours to avoid tolls, and in the process chalk more miles, use more fuel, waste precious time, and pollute more. Efficiency of the entire country’s traffic as a whole drops.
- It replaces good planning, road improvements, and traffic implementation
Transition charge is a highly addictive for policy maker: It is easy to implement (just erect a gantry), is free (except for gantry set up cost), and generates revenue. It tempts policy maker into enforcing charges whenever traffic bottlenecks emerge, instead of finding genuine, fundamental solutions to ease congestion: proper urban planning to ensure adequate roads for new land developments, road upgrading, and better road designs.
As a result, public interests are not served: traffic system as a whole does not improve, people are inconvenienced, and total tax burden increases.
At the extreme, the public is punished for bad decisions/policy, while the policy maker rewarded.
UPPER BUKIT TIMAH: A CASE IN POINT OF POOR PLANNING AND FAILED CONGESTION MECHANISM
To illustrate, let’s look at the Upper Bukit Timah area. It is a case in point of poor planning unsolved by congestion mechanism. There, severe traffic congestion is a direct result of poor urban planning, not car ownership growth.
The government’s decision to develop and transform entire Hillview, Bukit Panjang, and Bukit Batok into upper-middle income estates is to be applauded, but it also added thousands, if not tens of thousands of families to the area. Yet the new developments are not accompanied by necessary transport infrastructure. There’s no MRT, and the LRT is inaccessible and inadequate. The entire region is still mainly served by an old trunk road running from Woodlands into Bukit Timah.
Road improvements are too little, too late. Adding an extra lane does little to ease congestions with many unnecessary traffic lights, and double T-junctions (See Dairy Farm and Hillview T-junctions less than 100m apart). The Jalan Anak Bukit underpass, which took years to build, created more problems than solve them.
The soon to be added TWO ERP gantries (one along Upper Bukit Timah, one along BKE towards PIE) will do nothing to ease congestion. The two gantries essentially made the only access roads from the entire area toll paying. Children will still need to go to school, parents will still need to work. With inadequate public transport (bus downtown takes 1.5 hours each way, MRT is a drive away) residents will have no choice but to drive, pay, grumble and join the congestion each day. The charges will be incurred, but the congestion will not ease.
EFFECTIVE CONGESTION PUBLIC POLICY REQUIRES MULTI-PRONGED SOLUTIONS, AND INCENTIVES ALIGNED WITH PUBLIC INTERESTS
What then, can the government do? No one solution will work. Below are a few suggestions, which in combination should achieve far more than adding transition charge:
Stick with destination charges, but reduce transition charges. The rationale has already been explained.
Fix existing road/systems and remove bottlenecks. Sometimes little improvements make a huge difference. Build overhead bridges to reduce pedestrian crossings/traffic lights at busy roads. Expand / extend lanes for filtering out and turnings (see Clementi / Ulu Pandan junction). Convert opposite, double T-junctions into single four-way junctions to reduce traffic stops.
Optimise traffic lights system. There are countless stretches of road with alternating green and red light sequences which ensure that traffic stops at every light. Examples include Middle Road, Upper Bukit Timah Road, and Clementi Road. A simple reprogramming will ease traffic tremendously.
Improve urban planning. For one it does not make sense concentrating schools in the same areas. See Steven Road and Bukit Timah Road for examples: the congestions are designed and planned in. New towns and estates require adequate roads and public transportation - please don’t repeat the Upper Bukit Timah oversight again.
Adopt better road designs. Have exits from highways come before merge-ins, instead of the other way round. A large part of CTE congestion is caused by vehicles entering it lock-jamming with vehicles trying to get out, and not caused by overly heavy road use. Connect highways -- the fact that PIE intersects CTE, but offers no access from one to the other (city-bound) is a major oversight and a puzzlement to motorists.
The above recommendations are but a sample of solutions, and they are much tougher than planting gantries. Some will require investments, but all will require thoughtfulness and dedication towards finding fundamental and genuine solutions. True greatness comes when government goes beyond administering to sharing and owning problems together with its people -- that’s when innovation emerge to help make a difference in people’s lives. We expect nothing less from this great government.
Agree whole heartedly...recently there was this report to do away with bus bay as buses have problem filtering back to main road after driving in....so they rather let the bus block up the whole lane while they stop!!!!
