Singapore Road Traffic Control essays

Singapore Road Traffic Control essays SINGAPORES ROAD TRAFFIC CONTROL As vehicle numbers grow, cities around the world face serious road traffic congestion problems. On some major roads can be so bad that speeds are 10 km/h or lower, slower than a bicycle. The costs include lost work and leisure time, increased fuel consumption, air pollution, health problems, stress, and discomfort. Furthermore, congestion slows the movement of goods and services, adding to the price of products and reducing the competitiveness of business. This essay will examine three of the policies implemented by the government to control road traffic in Singapore. One obvious way to discourage private car usage in Singapore is to provide an efficient and convenient public transport system. Singapore invested, in the past decade, S$ 7.5 billion in its transportation sector, of which S$ 5.2 billion was on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), rail and public transport, and S$ 2.3 billion was on roads. The extensive MRT network encourages commuters to utilize the rail rather than private cars. The network is spread across the island covering key constituencies and areas of interest. The current construction of North-East MRT Line will link the World Trade Centre with the new housing estates of Sengkang and Punggol. In addition, Singapore aims to have 75 per cent of all trips made by public transport (50 per cent now). For this reason, bus fares have been kept reasonable. The extensive setting up of feeder services assists the public in taking them from an MRT station to their destination. One can now travel not only cheaply but in comfort too. Another one of the policies that helps the government in controlling road traffic in Singapore, is the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). Under this system, when a vehicle approaches ERP gantries, charges are deducted automatically from stored-value cards that are slotted into an in-vehicle unit. Being intelligent and more use-friendly, the ERP syste...