Why should be build more flyovers when we can implement what already works?
WHY does it seem that fixing traffic problems in the Klang Valley will only result in more traffic? I am talking about congestion in Old Klang Road, Bukit Jalil, Sri Petaling and other parts of the Klang Valley.
The Member of Parliament for Seputeh, Teresa Kok, suggested building a flyover to ease congestion.
I am not saying that is a bad idea, but would that not result in more chaos? Sure, things may get better for a while, but that will only be for a while until the flyover, and its feeder roads reach their maximum operational capacity again.
For someone who loves cars and motorcycles, it pains me to say this but the only real way to ease congestion in the Klang Valley is to limit vehicles and improve public transport.
This is a topic that has been repeated countless times and yet there is no easy way to go about it. It is almost as if the powers that be are clueless about improving public transport. It’s like they do not know how to do it.
I have just returned after spending some time in Singapore, and though it is very far from being my favourite place to spend time in, I have to say that the island nation has mastered public transport infrastructure. I can only think of Japan and China that could potentially rival Singapore in that aspect.
But there are two things that we could potentially learn from Singapore. I use the word potentially with great hope that someone up there in their ivory tower will read this and implement it.
The first thing we could do is implement specialised car plates. In Singapore, the colour of a number plate signifies how and when a vehicle can be used; black number plates are for private cars and can be used freely, red plates are for cars that can only be used during off-peak hours, orange and yellow plates are for classic cars, green and red plates are for vehicles with restricted use and more.
Why can’t we do something similar? Of course, this will only mean something if we enforce the rules properly and as I have written previously, judging from the number of motorcycles that do not care about traffic lights, our enforcement is severely lacking.
But if we can do this properly just as what the country achieved with special number plates for electric cars, I believe we can bring congestion down by a couple of notches.
The next thing we can learn from Singapore is implementing congestion charge. Toll charges in the city vary according to the time and the day. On regular days, toll charges are higher to encourage people to use public transport and to bring down congestion.
On non-peak hours and on weekends, there is no toll in some parts of Singapore.
I think that is a brilliant trade off and something that is easily implemented and we don’t even need to rely on our already weak enforcement.
Why spend more on building structures that will only last a few years when we can learn from our southern neighbours.
