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SPEECH BY MR RAYMOND LIM, SECOND MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, A
SUSTAINABLE LAND TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR Role of land transport 1
I am pleased
to join you this morning to launch the ‘Flag the Bus Early’
Campaign and to be able to share with you some of my thoughts on how I would
like to see the future of land transport in Singapore develop. We are
familiar with the economic contributions of our air hub status and our
position as a major port. Though we
hear less about it, our land
transport system plays a critical role in facilitating economic development
and enhancing 2
3
Moreover, the
more economically and socially vibrant 4
For many
cities in the world, growth means urban sprawl, traffic gridlock, noise and
air pollution, and a loss of serenity.
As economist Richard Posner puts it succinctly, “congestion is a
tax too, but a hidden tax on the time of people rather than on their
pocketbooks because it increases the amount of time wasted in heavy
traffic.” We see this happening in cities across the How we have navigated the past 5
Given our
situation and our challenges, we had decided on some critical directions and
policies early on as encapsulated in the 1996 White Paper on Land Transport.
These have been instrumental in enabling us to meet our transportation needs
while keeping congestion at bay. 6
We recognized
that while we must pursue a systematic road building programme
to support development, it is not sustainable to build more and more roads
simply to meet an insatiable demand.
In fact, well-maintained and smooth-flowing roads are all the more
likely to attract additional new users.
There is therefore also a need for a good traffic management system to
optimize road usage and keep our roads free of congestion. 7
Overall, we
have to strike a balance between facilitating those who wish to own and use
vehicles while tackling the social costs of unrestrained vehicle usage. To do this, we implemented the Vehicle
Quota System in 1990 to manage the growth of the vehicle population at a rate
that can be supported by our road infrastructure development. In addition, to tackle congestion directly,
we implemented and evolved road pricing mechanisms, beginning with the Area
Licensing Scheme in 1975, and later introducing electronic road pricing or
ERP in 1998 when technology made this possible. Contrary to what some people
think, the ERP is not a revenue raising device but a traffic management tool.
Since ERP has been implemented, revenue collected has been considerably less
than under the Area Licensing Scheme – ERP revenue in 2005 is about 20%
less than that collected under the ALS in 1997. 8
Like other cities,
we also promoted public transport as a major mode of transport, as it can
carry large numbers of people around efficiently. Over the years, we have developed a
reliable and affordable public transport system, comprising the rapid transit
system and an extensive bus network.
Each day, some 4 million commuter trips are made on our public
transport system, and during the morning peak period, some 63% of all trips
are made on public transport. There is a large constituency of public
transport commuters to satisfy.
According to the Public Transport Council’s 2005 survey, 7 in 10
commuters are satisfied with our bus services. Unfortunately, SBS Transit
laments to me that what often gets highlighted in the media are the
complaints. 9
While some policies, for example the vehicle
ownership and usage restraint policies are not popular, by and large,
Singaporeans understand the need for them.
As a society, we have collectively reaped the benefits of our approach
to transportation. While we continue
to strive for improvement, we can feel encouraged that our land transport
system has won praise from those who have experienced and compared various
systems. Matthew Pereira writing in the Sunday Times (17 September 2006)
mentioned his Egyptian friend, Al who had just become a permanent resident in
Singapore, after spending the last 13 years in the United States. Making sound choices for the future 10
So we have
solid foundations but we need to plan ahead taking into account the pressures
we know we will face. We must ensure a transport system that meets not just
our present needs, but also the needs of generations to come – a sustainable transport system that
supports continued population and economic growth and the higher expectations
that come with being a first world city.
Therefore I have decided that it is timely for my ministry to take
stock of the 1996 White Paper and work with our stakeholders to develop a new
roadmap to articulate and guide the key land transport developments over the
next 10 to 15 years. 11
It will be a
comprehensive review, but there are three key areas that we must look closely
at: (1) What more must we do to make public
transport a choice mode for Singaporeans? (2) How do we ensure that we are
responsive to the evolving and diverse needs of our population? (3) How do we
ensure that in our quest for efficiency, we do not lose sight of the human
dimension in our transport system – that is, our transport system,
while having to be as efficient as possible, must ultimately serve the people
who use it. 12
Let me take
each of this in turn. Firstly, we must build on what we have done right and
in particular, focus on what more we can do to make public transport a choice
mode. Make public transport a choice mode 13
Given our
urban situation, the fundamentals of our land transport policy do not change
very much. Promoting public transport
as a major mode of transport, optimizing road usage and managing demand for
and the use of private vehicles – these policies remain the bedrock of
a sustainable land transport system for Singapore. 14
However, the
task ahead of us is a challenging one.
Keeping the roads smooth-flowing remains a fundamental objective. We have 780,000 vehicles plying the road
and the numbers will continue to increase as our population and economy
continue to grow. Hence, we must
continue to manage the growth of the vehicle population, as there is a limit
to the amount of roads we can have in our densely built-up city. 15
In the last 15 years, our vehicle population grew at
2.3% per annum, while roads, measured in lane-km, grew at 1% per annum. In
the next 15 years, we expect annual road growth to be halved. As our road-building programme enters
maturity, the choices that we are faced with are not difficult to
imagine. What level of congestion can
we tolerate? What is
the impact of this on ERP charges and the areas of coverage? How do we calibrate vehicle population
growth in relation to road expansion and the aspirations of our people to own
cars? And in addressing these questions, we need to bear in mind that there
is an overriding constraint on further road expansion. This means that there
will be a sharper trade-off between increasing vehicle population growth and
its impact on higher ERP charges and more extensive ERP coverage. These are
some of the long-term challenges that we will need to grapple with. And at a more micro-level, should we have
less greenery on our roads so that we can have the additional lane? Should we have more viaducts and spaghetti
junctions, which will improve the journey experience for some drivers, but at
the expense of a quality visual landscape?
16
However, there
are also opportunities to be seized now, which will put us in a stronger
position to meet future demands. For
one, we must make a concerted effort to aggressively promote public
transport, which is an efficient mass carrier, and which plays a central role
in most first world cities. This is a
major challenge. The proportion of
trips taken on public transport during the morning peak period declined from
67% in 1997 to 63% in 2004 and this despite investing heavily in providing a
good public transport system. Let me add that the reason for the drop is not
because there has been a drop in public transport usage, but simply because
we have allowed the car population to increase quite substantially,
generating a much greater increase in car trips compared with trips on public
transport. Between 1997 and 2004, the daily number of bus and rail trips
increased by 2.3%. However, the
picture is quite different for cars. Over the same period, the car population
grew by 10%, but the daily number of car trips generated increased by 23%,
which is more than double the rate of car population increase. In other words, there has been a growing
trend that once a car is bought, it is used very intensively. This is not
surprising as having paid heavily upfront on a car with a limited period for
use before it has to be scrapped, owners tend to
drive as much as they can. Another reason is that the additional cost for car
usage even after taking into account petrol taxes, ERP charges and parking
have remained relatively low. 17
We will have
to work harder to make public transport a choice mode for the vast majority
of Singaporeans for routine day-to-day commuting. This is because for a dense
urban city-state such as ours, it will be catastrophic to allow private
transport to be the dominant transport mode as it will cause huge degradation
to the city’s liveability and quality of
life. For a start, we will have to
reverse the trend of declining public transport modal share, and over time,
aim to raise it. Our focus would be on
the morning peak period, where we target to increase the current public
transport modal share of 63% to at least 70% over the next 10 – 15
years to achieve a high quality and sustainable land transport system that is
able to handle a significantly larger population base, with greater economic,
business and tourism activities in tandem with Singapore’s next phase
of development. This is a target
which, if achieved, will help ensure that we can continue to enjoy a high
quality urban living environment. 18
We will
therefore need to continue to extend the rail network so that we have a
sufficiently comprehensive network to serve as the main backbone for our
public transport system. The Circle Line will greatly enhance connectivity
between suburban destinations and cut travel times, while the Downtown
Extension will bring the MRT into the Downtown at 19
We must also
improve the bus system through bus priority schemes like full-day bus lanes,
the new Quality of Service Standards for buses, and allow for more niche
services for those who are willing to pay a little more for faster or more
direct travel. In this regard, LTA has
already started a review of our current public transport regulatory and
competition framework to achieve the outcome of providing commuters with more
choice and a more integrated and efficient public transport system. We must aim high with the test being
whether people who have a choice of private or
public transport, are won over to our public transport system. To achieve that, people must feel that
“My other car is a bus” or train as the case may be. Responsive to diverse needs 20
Secondly, we
have to be responsive to the diverse needs of the community. Our society is changing, and demands on
land transport are increasingly more complex.
Our transport offerings must be more responsive to the diversity of
needs, as well as reflect the more socially inclusive society that we seek to
become. Hence, we have begun making
changes to enable the public transport system to meet the needs of the
elderly and the disabled. Our MRT stations have been retrofitted with lifts
and other barrier-free facilities. The
first wheelchair accessible buses have also started plying since July this
year, and by 2010, 40% of our bus fleet will be wheelchair accessible. The
LTA is also upgrading bus stops, road kerbs and
other road facilities to enable senior citizens and others with mobility
difficulties to get around more easily.
21
However, in a
diverse society, it is natural that needs and interests may diverge in some
cases, making it less easy to get a consensus among Singaporeans on the way
forward – for example, striking a balance between the needs of
cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Dialogue, give and take, and a
commitment to mutual accommodation will be necessary. For example, take a
walk along East Coast Park on a weekend and you will see cyclists, in-line
skaters, joggers, prams and pets on leashes all sharing the same jogging and
cycling track. There will be those who
will politely extend the courtesy of passage to others but you will also
overhear complaints about joggers who do not keep to their jogging path or
cyclists who do not keep to their cycling path, reinforcing the importance of
mutual understanding between competing user groups. 22
We must also
continue to ensure that public transport fares remain affordable for the
general public, and for the lower-income households and others who are
financially-disadvantaged, we must find effective measures, in conjunction
with other Government agencies, to help them continue to have access to our
public transport system. So, while
public transport fares will have to be adjusted regularly but in small
amounts to reflect the costs increase faced by our public transport
operators, the Government will continue to ensure that those who need
financial help to access our public transport system would receive such
help. Emphasise the ‘human touch’ 23
Thirdly, we
must emphasise the ‘human touch’ in
transport planning. I fully agree
with Laurel Teo, writing in the Straits Times in
October last year, that transport planning must take into account the human
dimension. 24
Let me say
that transport has never been about hardware, building the best or using the
most advanced technology for its own sake.
Neither is it the case that in the quest for efficiency, we have
focused on the faceless “system”, but lost sight of the people
who use the transport system and make it happen - the commuter, the motorist,
the bus captain, the officer who mans the MRT operations control centre. SBS
Transit’s launch of the ‘Flag the Bus Early’ Campaign
brings home the point that through a simple stretching out of one’s
hand ahead of time to flag down an oncoming bus, commuters can help the bus
captains stop the bus in a timely manner and the commuters on board to enjoy
a smoother ride. 25
Nevertheless,
I think we can still do more to emphasise the human
dimension in transport planning and help people understand our approach. The
transport system must be planned and built to benefit people movement rather
than vehicle movement. The two are
related but not the same. Understanding the difference is critical if we want
to have a system that meets the needs of users. Listening to stakeholders is key. LTA engages
its stakeholders on an ongoing basis and have stepped up efforts to hear from
users and take their views into account.
LTA will also learn from good practices in other countries, and where
relevant, also engage external transport consultants to give their inputs in
order to invite fresh perspectives as in the case of the public transport
industry review which I mentioned earlier.
There are regular surveys to understand users’ needs and views
are sought through online channels such as Talk2lta.gov.sg which is a
dedicated public consultation portal.
Users are also involved in designing and implementing new services and
facilities. For example LTA, collaborated with the Handicaps Welfare
Association and SBS Transit in
planning and implementing the first wheelchair-accessible bus route, so that
it would effectively meet the needs of wheelchair-bound users. Concluding Remarks : Land Transport Vision 26
Going forward,
we will build on the sound foundations that have been laid. Our vision for a world class transport
system ensues from, and must support the overarching vision of what Singapore
is to be – a vibrant jewel of a city, with a quality living and working
environment, and an inclusive society.
27
Our land
transport network will play a critical role in realizing this overarching
national vision, by connecting Singaporeans and enabling them to carry out
their daily activities conveniently. To do this, we must develop a world
class land transport system, and we must also recognise
that the term “world class” is not static. We have to change and
respond to demands, and see through the eyes of the travelling
public and the stake-holders. Expectations are rising and people expect their
journeys to be more reliable, comfortable and convenient. 28
So we will
undertake this comprehensive review of our land transport policy, asking how
we can improve travel for Singaporeans, asking how we can build a more
sustainable transport system by examining different policy alternatives.
Quality of choice matters if we want to have a world class transport system. 29
We will do
this over the next one year or so, and it will be an exciting journey as we
review our policies, deliberate, consult and firm up our plans to take us to
the next phase of land transport development.
We will know that we have succeeded when our land transport system is
regarded in the same league as our airport and sea port. This is our ambition
and we ask you to join us in helping to make this happen. |
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