最近在报章上读到许多有关兴建新的新柔长堤以及降低大士第二通道过路费的新闻和在大马媒体的评论，本人其实感到困扰。因为大马人忘了两国的国情以及事件处理方式都不一样。
先谈降低大士第二通道过路费30％的事件。新加坡政府当年是以自投自保养维修的情况下与大马政府兴建的。这有别于大马把大道维修保养的责任“外包”给南北大道的子公司。所以在决定降低过路费时，有自主的决定。反而大马政府可能得要赔偿大道公司。
另一方面，本人感觉到用意是鼓励卡车使用大士关卡以舒缓兀兰路被大马卡车严重堵塞的情况（车龙可以长达5公里！）。这严重的影响新加坡公共巴士在下午繁忙时段的运作，也害得在兀兰路乘搭巴士的乘客被迫在卡车和右边车道“夹住”的情况下的等巴士。
这也让我意识到为何大马政府无法快速的建造地铁 － 路税太便宜了！新加坡政府有能力资负兴建地铁线，新的大道及维修道路，新的冷气巴士转换站是因为有的实施昂贵的拥车证，路税以及每公升新币30分的汽油税。
新的新柔长堤对我而言是没有什么好期待的，因为新的新山关卡太狭窄了（连从兀兰前往新山方向没有设立专利的巴士专用道）。
第二，实际上柔佛海峡太狭窄了！新一代的大型轮船是没有办法使用柔佛海峡。也可别忘了在新加坡西部是实弹演习场，船只是不能进入。
在提升大马柔佛海港的竞争力时，大马人忘了连最近台湾长荣集团在新加坡设立船东公司。新加坡政府的策略是吸引国际船务公司不止用新加坡的货柜港，也鼓励该公司将船队登记使用新加坡籍旗，在新加坡设立区域总部，使用新加坡的运输，货舱，金融等等的相关服务。这是俗称的Approved International Scheme. 相关资料：http://www.mpa.gov.sg/sites/business_and_enterprise/expanding_your_business_operations/growing_your_business_through_approved_schemes/approved_interational_shipping_enterprise(ais)_scheme.page
意图是要把新加坡建立成国际船运中心。大马还没做到。
想起当年的港口之争，今天新加坡港还成为世界第一货柜吞口量的港。连当年给予长荣航空在吉隆坡机场的优惠都保不了将被削减航班的厄运。
长荣航空将在今年八月起，削减从每星期6班台北飞往吉隆坡的服务削减成每星期3班。反而来往台北以及新加坡的服务将从每星期5班增加到每天一班。连将提升使用波音B-777客机 （可以说是首创 － 第一个在欧美及日本航班以外以完全使用定型B-777型客机的长荣航线）。
始终长堤两岸的国情还是不一样。
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
'by right', 'by left'
Hate it to say this about young Singaporeans these days - trying to squeeze their way through the system.
It's something I would not mention openly in a blog but they hate the 'by right' rule.
I think many people simply refuse to listen or refuse to believe - if there's 1000x of the same character people trying to do 'by left', wouldn't people like the government be very busy to entertain all these?
Simply they would ban all the 'by left' things though no doubt there are special occasions flexibility has to be exercised like the recent case on the newspaper over a mum breastfeeding her kid onboard the MRT train (It's better than the baby crying and disturbing other passengers onboard the same MRT train right?).
In any case not that I wish to criticise, sometimes the more people insist on the 'by left' things, the more trouble they end up into - serious.
It's something I would not mention openly in a blog but they hate the 'by right' rule.
I think many people simply refuse to listen or refuse to believe - if there's 1000x of the same character people trying to do 'by left', wouldn't people like the government be very busy to entertain all these?
Simply they would ban all the 'by left' things though no doubt there are special occasions flexibility has to be exercised like the recent case on the newspaper over a mum breastfeeding her kid onboard the MRT train (It's better than the baby crying and disturbing other passengers onboard the same MRT train right?).
In any case not that I wish to criticise, sometimes the more people insist on the 'by left' things, the more trouble they end up into - serious.
Cross Border Bus Svs - PSV license
I'm referrring to the S$25 PSV license Malaysian (and a small number of Thai registered coaches) coaches has to pay in order to be allowed to enter Singapore.
This includes the Malaysian Yellow public bus that plies in particularly between Kranji & JB (CW1) and Queen St & JB (CW2).
They're competing with SBS and SJE respectively (not to mention the subsidised diesel and so on) yet they SBS & SJE are made to pay $1100 PSV road tax a year instead.
I received an reply from MOT saying that it cannot be compared as the Malaysian buses are only allowed to stop at 'designated' locations in Singapore.
Yeah, that means our SJE in particular should be paying S$25 road tax instead as well since the CW2's 'designated' location is the same as SJE.
I think SJE should consider relocating the business to register at JB instead since there's this loophole. Everything is still lower cost in Malaysia.
Our Singapore government has well forgotten how humiliated they were when Maersk & Evergreen left PSA thanks to it's stubborn stance over shipping rates (rates was only lowered when other lines threatened to follow suit). Needless to mention the head of PSA then was an ex - defence minister back in the 1990s who said "We do not compete with prices.".
I think they deserve to taste it one more time to realise their policy need to evolve around Singaporeans and not expecting Singaporeans evolve around it. It's not as if there's loopholes around.
Instead of collecting less, people relocate elsewhere and forget about collecting taxes and Singaporeans being employed.
Needless to mention they still believe the cramped New Boon Lay Bus Int is mindful of commuters needs. So who takes public transport daily? Those scholars who rarely take public transportation or the thousands of ordinary Singaporeans and bus drivers whose breaks are forfeited who have to face this?
This includes the Malaysian Yellow public bus that plies in particularly between Kranji & JB (CW1) and Queen St & JB (CW2).
They're competing with SBS and SJE respectively (not to mention the subsidised diesel and so on) yet they SBS & SJE are made to pay $1100 PSV road tax a year instead.
I received an reply from MOT saying that it cannot be compared as the Malaysian buses are only allowed to stop at 'designated' locations in Singapore.
Yeah, that means our SJE in particular should be paying S$25 road tax instead as well since the CW2's 'designated' location is the same as SJE.
I think SJE should consider relocating the business to register at JB instead since there's this loophole. Everything is still lower cost in Malaysia.
Our Singapore government has well forgotten how humiliated they were when Maersk & Evergreen left PSA thanks to it's stubborn stance over shipping rates (rates was only lowered when other lines threatened to follow suit). Needless to mention the head of PSA then was an ex - defence minister back in the 1990s who said "We do not compete with prices.".
I think they deserve to taste it one more time to realise their policy need to evolve around Singaporeans and not expecting Singaporeans evolve around it. It's not as if there's loopholes around.
Instead of collecting less, people relocate elsewhere and forget about collecting taxes and Singaporeans being employed.
Needless to mention they still believe the cramped New Boon Lay Bus Int is mindful of commuters needs. So who takes public transport daily? Those scholars who rarely take public transportation or the thousands of ordinary Singaporeans and bus drivers whose breaks are forfeited who have to face this?
YOG special lane
The hyperlink shown below is for those who still do not know what is going on about the special YOG vehicular lane that would be implemented on most of the expressways and some designated main roads:
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20100618-222837.html
My 2 cents thought of this issue:
1) How are the YOG buses going to be moving on the 2nd most left lane or rather the middle lane of most of the expressways when the legal speed limit for buses is 60km/hr? Isn't it going to be road hogging impeding smooth expressway flow instead?
2) So if the car did not look out for the YOG official cars, would the cars end up filter out to the right lane? In any case would they travel beyond the speed limit and/ or be above the actual traffic flow (raining, accidents, events en-route e.g. fallen tree)?
3) Can't they leave the venues i.e. hotels or NTU YOG village earlier?
4) Can't other arrangement be made instead? I.e. adjust school hours, SGX trading hours, govt office operational hours? This also has implications onto our public buses and MRT peak hour scheduling as well.
Is the scholars inside the civil service expect everyone to evolve around the YOG? Or is it because they now realised it would greatly the smooth ops of the finanicial & banking sector?
I'm waiting for road traffic accidents to occur as vehicles filter out to the right or left lane out of desperation to avoid getting the fine. Probably a 10 - 20 car piling accident would occur when one of the cars is unable to brake in time to let the filtering car in. By then the YOG games would be affected thanks to the massive jam. Soon Singapore would become a joke of the world again after the Orchard Road flash flood on Wednesday 16/06/2010.
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20100618-222837.html
My 2 cents thought of this issue:
1) How are the YOG buses going to be moving on the 2nd most left lane or rather the middle lane of most of the expressways when the legal speed limit for buses is 60km/hr? Isn't it going to be road hogging impeding smooth expressway flow instead?
2) So if the car did not look out for the YOG official cars, would the cars end up filter out to the right lane? In any case would they travel beyond the speed limit and/ or be above the actual traffic flow (raining, accidents, events en-route e.g. fallen tree)?
3) Can't they leave the venues i.e. hotels or NTU YOG village earlier?
4) Can't other arrangement be made instead? I.e. adjust school hours, SGX trading hours, govt office operational hours? This also has implications onto our public buses and MRT peak hour scheduling as well.
Is the scholars inside the civil service expect everyone to evolve around the YOG? Or is it because they now realised it would greatly the smooth ops of the finanicial & banking sector?
I'm waiting for road traffic accidents to occur as vehicles filter out to the right or left lane out of desperation to avoid getting the fine. Probably a 10 - 20 car piling accident would occur when one of the cars is unable to brake in time to let the filtering car in. By then the YOG games would be affected thanks to the massive jam. Soon Singapore would become a joke of the world again after the Orchard Road flash flood on Wednesday 16/06/2010.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Near accident onboard buses - thanks to car drivers!
Actually I didn't want to pen down my thoughts on this matter.
But I'd ever encountered two near accidents, 1) at congested PIE when the SBS bus I was on was attempting to filter to the middle lane), 2) at CJC along Whitley Rd when the SBS buses are trying to filter to the bus stop as the left lane is clogged by parents queueing to drop off their kids inside the school compound.
In this 2 scenario, I could have tripped and fall thanks to heartless parents/ car drivers. Not only that,
In the PIE incident the car driver just immediately sped up noticing the bus was filtering. I could have tripped and hit a grab pole all thanks to him. Yet he thinks he's right by making a rude gesture to the bus driver. For trying to fight to be first (the ego), we commuters (especially the standing ones) suffer.
In the CJC incident, no one wants to give way to the buses. It's as if other than their precious gems, everyone else does not need to get to school, to work on time. No one bothered to give way to the buses to enter and exit the bus stop bay at CJC even though the left lane they're on being congested (the buses could still filter to the right to proceed to PIE).
In any case I think MOE should ban parents from dropping off their kids inside the school compound. It does nothing but to only delay bus service operations. The buses are already very packed thanks to the 'good' initiative to start school later at 8am, clashing with people heading to work.
Yet at the same time, the same government is trying to encourage Singaporeans to take public transport.
In any case, I'm a driver myself just happened to commute to work and play more via public transport.
But I'd ever encountered two near accidents, 1) at congested PIE when the SBS bus I was on was attempting to filter to the middle lane), 2) at CJC along Whitley Rd when the SBS buses are trying to filter to the bus stop as the left lane is clogged by parents queueing to drop off their kids inside the school compound.
In this 2 scenario, I could have tripped and fall thanks to heartless parents/ car drivers. Not only that,
In the PIE incident the car driver just immediately sped up noticing the bus was filtering. I could have tripped and hit a grab pole all thanks to him. Yet he thinks he's right by making a rude gesture to the bus driver. For trying to fight to be first (the ego), we commuters (especially the standing ones) suffer.
In the CJC incident, no one wants to give way to the buses. It's as if other than their precious gems, everyone else does not need to get to school, to work on time. No one bothered to give way to the buses to enter and exit the bus stop bay at CJC even though the left lane they're on being congested (the buses could still filter to the right to proceed to PIE).
In any case I think MOE should ban parents from dropping off their kids inside the school compound. It does nothing but to only delay bus service operations. The buses are already very packed thanks to the 'good' initiative to start school later at 8am, clashing with people heading to work.
Yet at the same time, the same government is trying to encourage Singaporeans to take public transport.
In any case, I'm a driver myself just happened to commute to work and play more via public transport.
Kranji MRT Station bus stop mess
For many Singaporeans rarely takes public transport to JB, the Kranji MRT Station is the main gateway for people to cross the border with SBS Sv 160, 170 (Red plate), 170 (Blue plate) & CW1.
In any case the cheapest (After transfer rebate the fare payable is 41c), busiest and most frequent service is the SBS Sv 170 (blue plate), boarding point being the bus stop outside Kranji Stn.
The CW1 service is the most expensive to board at Kranji with $1.30 cash fare payable onboard. CEPAS cards are not accepted being a Malaysian bus.
On Fridays, the queue can be ultra long because many Malaysians working in Singapore would head back home to enjoy the typical weekend. The queue can be long due to two main reasons: passenger load and jam at Causeway.
The lorry jam that regularly occurs on Fridays creates more problem. As many lorry drivers does not leave a gap at the bus stop, passengers are forced to board/ alight beside the lorries along the road rendering the bus stop bay useless. This applies to those who boards Sv 160 & 170 (Red plate) to JB at the bus stop Opp Kranji Stn.
These passengers have to brave though being bulldozed by the lorries as they take no regard for human traffic (It's typical in Malaysia).
Actually this hazard to commuters isn't just isolated to Kranji MRT Station. The bus stops along Woodlands Rd (From Yew Tee onwards) are blocked by the formed up lorries. Commuters has to brave standing on the road and the lorries to wait for their buses.
Even the left turning facility to Kranji Rd at the Kranji Rd/ Turf Club Ave/ Woodlands Rd junction is blocked.
Then comes the security issue. Many commuters boarding at the Opp Kranji Stn bus stop refuse to queue in an orderly manner (possibly human mentality of wanting to board the early bus to get home). Then comes commuters pushing each other. I wonder has any commuter suffered being pickpocketed before.
I ever saw a group of them boarding the bus from the exit door and evaded payment. It's a chaos.
To me, such mess an security hazard towards public transport facilities.
I think this Kranji MRT station bus stop is the most outcast public transport facility in the entire Singapore in terms of orderly.
In any case the cheapest (After transfer rebate the fare payable is 41c), busiest and most frequent service is the SBS Sv 170 (blue plate), boarding point being the bus stop outside Kranji Stn.
The CW1 service is the most expensive to board at Kranji with $1.30 cash fare payable onboard. CEPAS cards are not accepted being a Malaysian bus.
On Fridays, the queue can be ultra long because many Malaysians working in Singapore would head back home to enjoy the typical weekend. The queue can be long due to two main reasons: passenger load and jam at Causeway.
The lorry jam that regularly occurs on Fridays creates more problem. As many lorry drivers does not leave a gap at the bus stop, passengers are forced to board/ alight beside the lorries along the road rendering the bus stop bay useless. This applies to those who boards Sv 160 & 170 (Red plate) to JB at the bus stop Opp Kranji Stn.
These passengers have to brave though being bulldozed by the lorries as they take no regard for human traffic (It's typical in Malaysia).
Actually this hazard to commuters isn't just isolated to Kranji MRT Station. The bus stops along Woodlands Rd (From Yew Tee onwards) are blocked by the formed up lorries. Commuters has to brave standing on the road and the lorries to wait for their buses.
Even the left turning facility to Kranji Rd at the Kranji Rd/ Turf Club Ave/ Woodlands Rd junction is blocked.
Then comes the security issue. Many commuters boarding at the Opp Kranji Stn bus stop refuse to queue in an orderly manner (possibly human mentality of wanting to board the early bus to get home). Then comes commuters pushing each other. I wonder has any commuter suffered being pickpocketed before.
I ever saw a group of them boarding the bus from the exit door and evaded payment. It's a chaos.
To me, such mess an security hazard towards public transport facilities.
I think this Kranji MRT station bus stop is the most outcast public transport facility in the entire Singapore in terms of orderly.
SMRT train vandalism & Singpost letter box.
I believe the MRT train vandalism case is in the minds of every Singaporean right now - be it over security lapses or the vandalism act itself.
Suddenly I'm reminded of the SingPost letterbox incident (graffiti for the YOG) some time back. Could the staff have taken the graffiti as an advertisement with the letterbox incident? No one would ever know though.
But the security lapses is the real killer. What if a bomb was planted or sabotaging acts was conducted instead? It might have destroyed the lives and aspirations of many people.
Hopefully a precise review would be made. There's no place for complacency over security issues to surface. Period.
Suddenly I'm reminded of the SingPost letterbox incident (graffiti for the YOG) some time back. Could the staff have taken the graffiti as an advertisement with the letterbox incident? No one would ever know though.
But the security lapses is the real killer. What if a bomb was planted or sabotaging acts was conducted instead? It might have destroyed the lives and aspirations of many people.
Hopefully a precise review would be made. There's no place for complacency over security issues to surface. Period.
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