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PR Newswire
08-11-2012, 07:14 AM
And we thought the COE system was working? 
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Nov 08, 2012
One million vehicles on the road
Measures taken to manage rising pressure on road space, says LTA
By Christopher Tan senior correspondent
THE number of vehicles here has crossed the one million mark.
The figure includes foreign-registered vehicles, which make up about 5 per cent of the total number on the road here.
Excluding foreign vehicles, Singapore's own vehicle tally - currently at about 970,000 - is expected to hit the million mark in 2018. That is based on a capped growth rate of 0.5 per cent each year, which comes into effect next February. The current annual rate is 1 per cent.
Although the new cap is likely to result in the slowest 10-year vehicle growth rate - 6 per cent from last year to 2020 - since independence, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it will nevertheless put pressure on road space.
An LTA spokesman said 12 per cent of land space is already allocated to roads, and Singapore will face greater constraints in building new roads amid competing uses of land.
This is why the LTA has adopted a holistic package of measures that include building more roads, regulating vehicle growth, implementing traffic engineering solutions, promoting the use of public transport and managing traffic demand through increasing usage costs, she added.
Demand may not be evenly spread. For instance, LTA planners said traffic on Lornie Road will grow by as much as 30 per cent up to 2020. It cited this growth rate as an underlying reason for building a parallel road through Bukit Brown Cemetery.
Transport researcher Lee Der-Horng of the National University of Singapore said the country can accommodate a larger number of vehicles if it manages usage better. He cited the next-generation Electronic Road Pricing, which can charge drivers not only according to when and where they drive, but also for the distance they clock.
"If we can move towards the so-called 'usage-based' charging system, then it may not be necessary to tighten so much on ownership," Dr Lee added. "Traffic congestion is not from ownership but from usage."
But he warned that if car prices remained high, then usage-based measures may not work well. This is because the usage charges will be insignificant in relation to the price of the car.
"When ownership is not that unaffordable, and if public transport improves, drivers may be more willing to switch to taking the bus or train as and when necessary," he said.
christan@sph.com.sg
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Nov 08, 2012
One million vehicles on the road
Measures taken to manage rising pressure on road space, says LTA
By Christopher Tan senior correspondent
THE number of vehicles here has crossed the one million mark.
The figure includes foreign-registered vehicles, which make up about 5 per cent of the total number on the road here.
Excluding foreign vehicles, Singapore's own vehicle tally - currently at about 970,000 - is expected to hit the million mark in 2018. That is based on a capped growth rate of 0.5 per cent each year, which comes into effect next February. The current annual rate is 1 per cent.
Although the new cap is likely to result in the slowest 10-year vehicle growth rate - 6 per cent from last year to 2020 - since independence, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it will nevertheless put pressure on road space.
An LTA spokesman said 12 per cent of land space is already allocated to roads, and Singapore will face greater constraints in building new roads amid competing uses of land.
This is why the LTA has adopted a holistic package of measures that include building more roads, regulating vehicle growth, implementing traffic engineering solutions, promoting the use of public transport and managing traffic demand through increasing usage costs, she added.
Demand may not be evenly spread. For instance, LTA planners said traffic on Lornie Road will grow by as much as 30 per cent up to 2020. It cited this growth rate as an underlying reason for building a parallel road through Bukit Brown Cemetery.
Transport researcher Lee Der-Horng of the National University of Singapore said the country can accommodate a larger number of vehicles if it manages usage better. He cited the next-generation Electronic Road Pricing, which can charge drivers not only according to when and where they drive, but also for the distance they clock.
"If we can move towards the so-called 'usage-based' charging system, then it may not be necessary to tighten so much on ownership," Dr Lee added. "Traffic congestion is not from ownership but from usage."
But he warned that if car prices remained high, then usage-based measures may not work well. This is because the usage charges will be insignificant in relation to the price of the car.
"When ownership is not that unaffordable, and if public transport improves, drivers may be more willing to switch to taking the bus or train as and when necessary," he said.
christan@sph.com.sg
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