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if he is going all out into politics , maybe Tan Kin Lian should organise a gathering at the Speakers' Corner ,expose himself more and swell his support from vehicle drivers too ... could also get more signatures for his petitions ..
(hmmm ... National Day rally ... Speakers' Corner 'liberalised' ... Tan Kin Lian appears ... space in local papers ... mmm ... when is the next President's Election ? .... how many such qualified people we have .. maybe 1000 ? .... )
Maybe they should consider for buses to have siren. When they come, they sound the siren, then all cars will clear the bus lane. In this way, cars can use the bus lane. LOL.
singaporegal ( Date: 22-Nov-2008 09:58) Posted:
I believe that the introduction of bus lanes is on the assumption that there are many more people using public transport than private transport. However, I usually see empty bus lanes. Sometimes, I see traffic wardens standing 30m away with a notebook in hand catching drivers who dared to drive into those empty lanes to avoid the jam. |
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Today, on the way home at 6 pm, make sure follow the rule : "not to use the bus lane". Have to move to the dotted bus lane (hope this is correct), otherwise how to turn into Hume Avenue from Upper Bukit Timah Rd (North-bound). At the top of slope, just before the dotted bus lane, my partner saw a man in plain clothes aim his camera on the oncoming traffic. This is making driving stressful for drivers in spore.
I think LTA is taking 5 steps in advance causing problems to majority of the people. For people to want to take public transport, they must be good for connectivity. So they have to wait for more underground MRT to be build before they extend bus lanes to the heartland. I am sure many of us will not drive into the city if we are alone, unless it carries more than 1 person. Try travelling into the city using public transport, majority of us have to transfer 2 times (bus to MRT, MRT to bus) and we will still take public transport if we are going alone even we have a car, unless we have an urgent matter to atend to. By putting bus lanes in the city area, they are already 1 step ahead. By extending ERP operation hour in the city is already 2 steps ahead and causing CHINATOWN to become almost DEATHTOWN. By extending ERP in Toa Payoh Centre (3 steps ahead), Simei and Upper Bukit Timah Road (4 steps ahead). I think the bus lanes into the heartland will be the straw that broke the camel's back. It is more eyesore by looking at the bus lanes in the heartlands practically empty except for 1 or 2 buses and causes massive traffic jam for others.
I foresee the day when ERP charges are paid via credit cards and tracked by IVU devices that are GPS enabled. So there will be no need for gantries and that all roads are chargeable.
Straits Times Pg A33 Forum:
Ms Lee Yi Chen : "Bus lanes started operating along Simei Avenue on Sept 22 and has worsened congestion on the already congested road. Because of the bua lanes, the jam has now spilled over to Simei exit point of the PIE.When I queried the LTA, I was told that as buses carried more commuters, it was more important to let them reach their destination on time. Prior to the introduction of the bus lanes, there was hardly any kind of backed-up-to-the PIE jam that we have to face now. Perhaps the LTA should assess the situation. Subtracting a lane in a three-lane road does not help traffic flow. Perhaps we'll see an ERP gantry up soon to alleviate the congestion caused the bus lane."
LTA better chia sai....Loo Toilet Association. Sorry, performance bonus will be cut.
I believe that the introduction of bus lanes is on the assumption that there are many more people using public transport than private transport. However, I usually see empty bus lanes. Sometimes, I see traffic wardens standing 30m away with a notebook in hand catching drivers who dared to drive into those empty lanes to avoid the jam.
One of the many feedbacks at the Asiaone forum :
Re: LTA should reconsider bus lanes in heartlands - 10-11-2008, 04:30 PM
As a resident in Bukit Panjang, driving home is already a nightmare even before the implementation of the bus lane. PIE and BKE is always jammed with vehicles. It will be worse if there is an accident at the BKE exit which occurs on average once every 2 weeks. It takes me at least 20-25 minutes to travel from Eng Neo exit to Bukit Panjang exit along BKE. I had to seek alternate route which is to travel along Bukit Timah Road to Bukit Panjang. There are occasional jams at the junctions of King Albert Park and Dairy Farm. Even with these jams, I can easily get past within 15 minutes to reach home.
Recently with the implementation of the bus lanes, the traffic almost came to a standstill from the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Jalan Jurong Kechil right up to Dairy Farm. Cars are squeezing their way from the left lane into the central lane to avoid the bus lanes. It takes more 30 minutes just to clear this stretch of road if it does not rain.
While I am stuck in the long queue, I made an observation on the number of buses plying down the bus lane. You get at most 2-3 buses plying at any time and why are we giving up the whole road just for these 2-3 bus services? In fact, before the implementation of the bus lanes, I don't see buses getting jammed in the lanes. IF LTA is thinking of reducing the waiting time of buses, then they are very wrong. I wonder if they have ever done any survey to see why the buses are delayed. IF you look carefully into the bus routes, most of them are on very long routes. Their delay could be due to other parts of the road and definitely not along Bukit Timah Road. I really hope the authorities can remove the bus lanes and not inflict more pain onto drivers like us. We are paying more petrol since our engines are idling while waiting to move. Is that the kind of pain that the government wants to inflict onto their people?
Alvin Lee
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| LTA should reconsider bus lanes in heartlands |
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I REFER to the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) introduction of a 5km bus lane from Bukit Panjang to Upper Bukit Timah on Oct 28. This stretch was already congested during peak hours, which was why Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) was imposed a few months ago. With the bus lane, traffic congestion has worsened and the LTA should reconsider its introduction for these reasons.
First, public infrastructure is being used inefficiently as there are only seven bus services plying this stretch during peak hours. The Trans-Island Bus Services (Tibs) website pegs the average service frequency at about 10 minutes. This means that in an hour, there are only 42 services plying this stretch.
On the other hand, there are about 1,200 vehicles squeezed into the two remaining lanes during the same period. I arrived at this figure based on the assumption that the average frequency of a car passing through a particular place, say, the Hume Park bus stop, is three seconds. Dividing 3,600 seconds (an hour) by the average time it takes a car to pass a generic spot (three seconds) gives us an estimate of the number of cars. So, we have a scenario of 42 vehicles enjoying a single lane while 1,200 vehicles are squeezed into the two remaining lanes during a peak hour of say, between 8am and 9am. Is this an efficient use of public infrastructure?
Second, the bus lane poses a danger to motorists because its narrowness inhibits cars wishing to filter safely.The bus lane scheme may work in the city where there are usually five to six lanes, but it does not work in stretches like this.
I urge the LTA to review the method and implementation of bus lanes in areas such as Bukit Panjang to Upper Bukit Timah.
As a compromise, allow even-numbered vehicles to ply bus lanes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and odd-numbered vehicles to use it on Mondays and Wednesdays. That leaves Friday which can be alternated between even and odd months for even- and odd-numbered vehicles respectively.
Low Kok Soon
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 5, 2008.
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I agree with his argument except the last paragraph was not practical for spore.
This is from Asiaone website:
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From Oct 28, bus lanes will be implemented at three locations along Bukit Panjang Road and Upper Bukit Timah Road.
These normal bus lanes will operate during peak hours from 7.30 am to 9.30 am and from 5 pm to 8 pm on weekdays.
The continuous expansion of the bus lane scheme has resulted in "bus speed improvements by some 10 to 12 per cent at some stretches," said LTA Chief Executive, Mr Yam Ah Mee.
There is now a total of 22km of full-day bus lanes and 144km of normal bus lanes since the expansion began in June this year.
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LTA very proud (my own) of Mr Yam.
Below is feedback at Asiaone :
With the implementation of the bus lane at Upper Bukit Timah Road, it's reported that the bus speed increase by 10 to 12%. BUT how many other road users suffer from the terrible traffic jam just for this 10 to 12%? Why LTA never be fair to other users? ERP has just been introduced along this road. We have to pay to use this non-expressway road. And now you pay for the terrible traffic jam you have to face every morning...... LTA is forever so smart in making decision!
I am sorry to hear that you will be fined. Actually I think the reason for the officer to aim his camera at your car was not about solid or dotted line. I have seen quite a few times these Cisco officer doing that at the road side. There was once I saw it with a huge laughter, this officer actually had his camera mounted on a tripod to capture cars. He is so lazy I am laughing at, not you being fine I laughed, please dun misunderstood. Coming back to your problem, I think you had breach the law by travelling on a bus lane at the wrong timing. If I am not wrong, morning 8-9am and evening 5-6pm, we motorists are not allowed to drive along the bus lane unless we need to make a left turn, which usually the lane will have a left arrow paint on it.
Driving in spore is already very stressful with the cameras everywhere, why cause so much problem for residents along Hume Avenue. The stretch of road along Upper Bukit Timah Road from Old Jurong Road to Hume Avenue is so short and the bus lane is drawn with intermittent dotted and solid yellow line for bus lane causing misinterpreation and problems for those driving into Hume Avenue. We try our best to follow rules, but this stretch of bus lane is giving a lot of headaches. There is hardly any bus when we were travelling along this road, but the outer 2 lanes are jammed with cars. Today at around 6 pm, we happen to follow a black Honda Civic, and we did know why the car infront move from the bus lane to the middle lane, as we want to turn left to Hume Ave, we just continue and we found a uniformed personnel (in white shirt and blue trouser) aiming a camera at us.
Anyone know what is the difference between dotted and solid yellow lines in the bus lane ?
Many years back when we travelling to Cameron Highlands (CH), the road at the foot to CH was also painted with intermittent dotted and solid white lines and when overtook a very slow moving pickup, we were stopped by 2 policemen and as usual they tried to squeeze money from us. We explained. that we were not familiar with the area. The Indian police was agreable to let us go but the Malay policeman was reluctant until another vehicle was stopped behind us, sufferring thesame stupid trap of intermittent dotted and solid white lines on the road (a very straight road)
