SMRT

[Swinger]

I remember vividly the pleasant free-flowing driving experience 20 yrs ago. Then came COE, a system that supposedly could accurately control the growth of vehicles population and hence keep our roads congestion free. Singaporeans were very much aware of the terrible gridlock that could befall Spore seen in places like KL and Bangkok if nothing was done and COE was accepted as the necessary evil.

Fast forward to today, and after innumerable tweakings and several transport ministers we still ended up like KL and Bangkok or worse. Because everyone is trying to avoid getting stuck, traffic start to snarls as early as 7 am and 5 pm. In fact driving in KL is so much more pleasant today with so many new roads and expressways so long as you to pay the toll.

The recent announcement is yet again another tweak like those in the past. They can is being kicked further down the road.

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Fast forward to today, and after innumerable tweakings and several transport ministers we still ended up like KL and Bangkok or worse. Because everyone is trying to avoid getting stuck, traffic start to snarls as early as 7 am and 5 pm. In fact driving in KL is so much more pleasant today with so many new roads and expressways so long as you to pay the toll.

My experience showed different picture. KL traffic is much worse, comparing with CTE traffic, during peak hour.

I didn't visit Bangkok, but base on news report, it should be much worse, especially so during peak hour.

I'm not sure how familiar you're with KL/Selangor but I have spent many years in Klang Valley (and still drive there regularly). I used to curse the road condition in KL and full of praise for Singapore roads. In the last 15 years the whole of Klang Valley is completely transformed. I'm not saying KL traffic congestion is better but if you're familiar you can bypass most the city centre now with the major expressway such as NKVE, KESAS, Shah Alam Expressway (SAE), New Pantai Expressway (NPE), Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2), etc. The journey is longer but driving is much more pleasurable and there are many alternative routes available.

My point is that the COE has obviously not fulfilled its intended objective as a means to control vehicles population growth. Every few years fine tunings were done and yet the COE prices continue to gyrate wildly from 10k to 100k easily outperforming the STI index in volatility while at the same time the congestion is getting worse. It is not difficult to establish how many cars can be safely added without clogging the roads each year. So, did Singapore transport planners got their calculation wrong? Not likely, it seems the government is flip flopping between two opposing objectives - reducing congestion vs increasing revenue.