Monday, August 13, 2018

Good public transport system vital

From Sun Daily:


Public transport, please

by Hafidz Baharom

MANY Malaysians have expressed reservations about the Third National Car project and have urged the government to focus on improving public transport, connectivity and ensuring smooth traffic flow.


Rafizi Ramli and lawmaker Nurul Izzah Anwar have both spoken out on the need to reconsider the car project.

Discussions have touched on past promises to remove excise duty, reduce costs and the idea to include Indonesia to build an "Asean" car.

For me, it's a question of cost and resources. First, what will such a project cost this government and the government-linked corporations?

If the new national car is to be established right after or during the abolishment of toll charges in stages, where does the government see the potential income to make up for lost revenue and kickstart the project?

Second, the cost to consumers. The average urban household has an estimated RM6,000 monthly from salaries to spend on everything from groceries, their homes, and hopefully their insurance plans and savings.

Do we want to add on the need for a car, petrol, car insurance, maintenance and toll charges to the mix, or can we add it to whatever savings they have at the end of the month?

Now, let us move on to resources part of the discussion – it will be a petrol, diesel or gas-driven car. We are a net importer of petrol; thus putting the government at risk of increased spending on the finite resource due to subsidies, which is again another expense on the government on top of wanting to build the car.

In fact, how much has the government spent on maintaining petrol prices for the past three months?

If we are going into electric vehicles, feel free to get in touch with the need to buy into rare earth to develop the batteries.

Another limited resource we need to talk about is land. Do we want to pave more land for roads, highways and parking lots? We do not have enough parking space in towns and cities.

It has been observed that building more roads eventually causes more traffic congestion.

More traffic jams lead to more carbon emissions; and more roads and parking lots means lowering the means to balancing those emissions if we do not replant trees and create new green areas to replace the cleared land.

Of course, a lot of time is wasted in traffic jams and contributes to various costs.

To those romanticising about Proton, I have to say it was not always a success. The carmaker took a dip when it took the front of a Wira, glued it to a hatchback and called it a "new model" targeting the dusty dunes of Australia.

Proton was also reported to have had problems with its parts suppliers, leading to what some believe was a reduction in quality which affected its sales. Remember the "failing power windows" claim.


Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Kian Ming is correct in saying we need a new National Automotive Policy that looks beyond electric and energy-efficient vehicles.

There is a need to define an energy-efficient vehicle in terms of kilometres per litre of petrol with a traffic light system. This was proposed ages ago by the UK Nudge Unit (Behavioural Insights Team) to the United States, but it didn't fully take.

Ong also points out the need to venture into electronics, the internet of things and adopt a more holistic approach.

If we are to continue building cars, the technology will have to include cameras on all sides to help drivers park safely, side sensors, automatic anti-collision braking sensors and even Bluetooth to connect devices to a computerised console.

Some models even come with built-in vacuum cleaners.

It's time to look beyond the national car and focus on improving public transport and how to fill up trains. Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad said ridership on public transport was only 20%.

This is good because it would mean endless potential in pushing people to use trains and trains with a RM100 public transport monthly pass proposed by Transport Minister Anthony Loke, rather than getting them to buy a car.


Hafidz Baharom is a public relations practitioner. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

10 comments:

  1. Some questions:

    1) why the bloody obsession that ProTiga has to be implemented on the failed Proton's project model?

    2) why must everything wrt ProTiga has to be done by m'sia?

    Battery, CIE, mcus & all sorts of associated parts can be sourced from expert manufacturing companies all-over the world (Ind 4.0).

    M'sia's inputs CAN be design, assembly coordination, administration & marketing. These r already easily available iff the ketuanan agenda is been discared!

    3) efficient public transport system CAN'T happens overnight! There is a long time lapse vis-a-vis a well thought out ProTiga project!

    Due to the complexities - land acquisitions, terrain & route coordination, population concentration & gathering hubs - all require detail studies.

    On top of that selections of vehicle, train (hs, normal), trams, buses (ev, fuel cell) r added headaches.

    Add construction cost & timeframe too.

    One might argue to improve on the existing current transport system - same argument as detailed above apply.

    Besides, modifying an old public transport system piece-meally CAN never achieve a satisfactory solution of people moving & congestion elimination. The existing CONSTRAINTS (people, locations) detest its successes.

    In short, what r u going to do for the mobility of the people while the public system is been improved?

    I say, while the public transport system is been studied, coordinated & planned, ProTiga can go on as a separate BUCCANEERING VENTURE to uplift the industrialization of bolihland.

    Create a pioneering industrial environment to attract thinking entrepreneurs, venture angels to start the ProTiga.

    Just like the visionary MultiMedia Corridor that mamak once envisaged, MINUS those good-for-nothing paper-pushing administrators.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. mahathir approach toyota n nissan, not tesla byd or any battery maker.

      2. its called national car, not xi n trump, ali n baba, or carasia.

      3. public transport is lifelong planning plus implementation, n lasting forever, apply across all govt whether there is car, or many car, or even no car. n one can choose to buy the cheapest n best car be it petrol or electric in the market, its not a staple food like rice that become a necessity especially during war or emergency.

      n dun bull, if the market is that good, the businessman already in, moreover msia raw mat is oil, not rare earth, so keep yr bull to yrself.

      Delete
    2. 1) Do yr ampu-ing of pkr implying yr condoning of its umno gene?

      See the similarities in yr thoughtless fart about mahathir's visit to toyota n nissan implying mamak MUST be working with Toyota & Nissan!

      2) National car is a label, insinuating a national connotation.

      Do yr Chinese ancestry insinuating u r NOT M'sian?

      For a rd, trying hard playing with labelling, u have a lot to learn le!

      3) what is this fart vis-a-vis my disclosed points wrt public transport implementation & ProTiga proposal??

      R u talking about choice, needs &/or wants!???

      Or u r talking about people mobility that u know NOTHING about - 肤浅,wakakakaka…

      Thus, u have proven yrself to be the next biggest bull-shitter after kt on this blog site.

      Delete
  2. Toldja...

    "National Service" doesn't belong to Defence Ministry or Mat Katun. It belongs to Youth and Sports, Unity Minister (Waytha), Education Ministry, Family & Community Development and the like.

    As for BTN, I hope this abolishment means the end of the silly endless debate....

    Another manifesto accomplished....kaching....

    QUOTE
    BTN and National Service abolished, Youth Ministry to takeover
    Published: Today 11:44 am | Modified: Today 11:52 am

    Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman today announced that the National Civics Bureau BTN) and National Service programmes will be abolished.

    Syed Saddiq added that his ministry will be taking over in the drafting of a substitute programme that will be in line with the Federal Constitution and Rukun Negara...
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ktemoc is stuck in an endless loop, unrelentingly smearing the Pakatan Harapan government as the Return of the Pharaoh, and the other ministers as just puppets.

      The reality is, yes, Mahathir does have have authoritarian tilts, and fondness for some past projects, but the Cabinet is relatively open. I expect the Pakatan government will make missteps, but it will listen to public input, and will correct its glaring mistakes.
      It is a far superior way to operate compared to Mahathir 1.0 or Najis, for that matter.

      The outcome of the NS and BTN debates are good examples.

      By the way, endless repetitive looping behaviour and thoughts are often a symptom of mental illness and instability....

      If Ktemoc still has close relatives in Penang, they should quickly act to bring the poor lad home.

      He appears to be rapidly going crazy gaga in Australia due to the loss of power of his idol and financial benefactor....wakakaka...

      Delete
  3. Hafidz Baharom ?
    He shot his own credibility when he crashed in flames as the Otak Rosak fella.

    Wonder where is Maryam Lee hiding these days ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Reading what he has written indicating the stage of otakrosak has not been reduced.

      The inconsequential flows of infos & the incoherency of the content CLEARLY indicating the otakrosak!

      Only bull-shitter will buy this piece of trash, hurriedly composed to meet newspaper dateline!

      Delete
  4. The monies for any National/Asean car, new highways, bypass, flyovers proposed would be better off used for better public transportation of connectivity and MRTs, LRTs, Monorails, feeder buses, grab/taxis, covered walkways and bridges, pavements, green areas etc.

    For we all know in urban cities and centers in the future just like in Singapore, only the rich and bosses still use cars in heavily congested areas while the majority uses public transportation. Even with electric cars in the future, where everyone if they can afford it, would not solve the problem of congested urban centres.

    Cars were a necessity in the early Eighties, Nineties and twenties but no more in the future except in semi-urban and rural areas. It only made the Motorcar companies richer and richer selling their cars aided and abetted by urban planners and Govt. building more roads, highways, flyovers, bridges, interchanges etc all catering to the car population in urban areas.

    Malaysians living in urban centers will get used to public transportation once it is improved with easier connectivity just like in most urban cities and areas around the world.


    ReplyDelete
  5. Need to decentralize our cities. Better town planning. Set lower population density guidelines to minimize urban ghettos. And stick to them. Have elected town councils, not appointed by BN like DBKL, where there is no accountability, resulting in corruption in planning approvals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Decentralised cities was a trend, happened quite sometimes ago in Europe. But the heat dies out due to the prolong economic slum.

      Population moves back to cities to look for jobs. Back to megacities problems.

      Need better model than just theory on paper!

      Many people has misconceptions about mass people transportation mechanism.

      1) they r good for concentrated point to point people movement. ie between big population hubs.

      2) cost justification implies ONLY for commercial localities.

      3) small out front areas can't justify them. Neither is bus services. Thus individual car becomes a necessity. Many of the Japanese towns' transportation studies prove that within the town, small car is the chief mean of commerce/people movement.

      So car, as an individual people moving tool will continue to exist far into the future.

      Delete