that part of London's bus transport system and some 14 cities in China use Singapore's expertise!
In last week's New Sunday Times's Cars.bikes.trucks editorial:
Public transport at the crossroads
By Yamin Vong
Excerpts:
Possibly, the time is now right for a sea of change. In this year’s Budget, PM announced the setting up of a Public Land Transport Commission.
The participants at last Thursday’s national summit passed a unanimous resolution that this commission be set up in 60 days.
A note of caution was sounded by Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, the past chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Malaysia. He said that he had heard the same tune for a national transport commission 30 years ago.
Professor Sulik Suleiman Salleh, a public transport expert, observed that many of the participants were engrossed with overseas models of public transportation, especially that of Curitiba in Brazil.
“Why are we looking so far overseas when Singapore’s public transport system is one of the best in the world,” said Sulik.
“Its ComfortDelGro is the world’s second largest public listed passenger land transport company with a fleet of 41,000 vehicles.”
“Its Metroline operates 14% (or 1250 buses) of London’s bus network under contract to the Transport for London. It also operates bus companies in 14 cities in China.”
ComfortDelGro was formed on March 29 2003 through the merger of two land transport giants, Comfort Group and DelGro Corporation. Both had started out in the 1970s.
Dare we think of our bus companies going worldwide?
As a former official of Intrakota said: “We lost Rm650 million trying to do a bus service in Kuala Lumpur. Our lucrative routes were illegally invaded by other bus companies.
“Some of the councils wanted us to provide buses at 15-minute frequency when there was one passenger an hour.”
The national summit ended on a tone where the participants wanted more transparency in the system and the appointment of transport professionals.
My comment: If only we could go for the best available, regardless of race or country of origin.
Dr. M would be the first to object to a Singapore initiative as being colonised.
Just imagine Britain and China using Singapore’s expertise! We could have spelt out our requirements and let them quote the price and within a few years, “Hey Presto! An efficient public transport system.” Our commuters would be ever grateful. Just a dream, no harm, is there? At the rate we are going, with leakages, we are not going anywhere near an efficient system for a long, long time.
Government fed by the people
Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.
Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?
When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.
Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)
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