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SMRT

STRADDLER is HERE

fOrget abOut MRT and BUSES

pharoah88 ( Date: 19-Aug-2010 21:44) Posted:

The STRADDLING BUS that could fix China’s traffic woes

HONG KONG

Try designing a vehicle that takes up no road space. And make it partly solar- powered.

A company in the southern Chinese town of Shenzhen has done just that. To address the country’s problems with traffic and air quality, Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment has developed a decidedly odd-looking, extra-wide and extra-tall vehicle that can carry up to 1,200 passengers.

Though it is dubbed the “straddling bus” (picture), Huashi’s invention resembles a train in many respects, but it requires neither elevated tracks nor extensive tunnelling. Its passenger compartment spans the width of two traffic lanes and sits high above the road surface, thanks to a pair of fence-like stilts that leave the road clear for ordinary cars to pass underneath.

It runs along a fixed route.

Huashi’s outsize invention, 6m wide, is to be powered by a combination of municipal electricity and solar power derived from panels mounted on the roofs of the vehicles and at bus stops.

A pilot project for the vehicle is in the works in Beijing and several other Chinese cities have shown interest.

The company says the vehicle, which will travel at an average speed of 40km an hour, could reduce traffic jams by 25 per cent to 30 per cent on main routes.

The Straddling Bus could replace up to 40 conventional buses, potentially saving the 860 tonnes of fuel that 40 buses would consume annually and preventing 2,640 tonnes of carbon emissions, said Mr Youzhou Song, the vehicle’s designer.

The cost of construction — 50 million yuan ($10 million) for one bus and about 40.2km of route facilities — is roughly one-tenth what it costs to build a subway of the same length, he said.— What do you do if your roads are congested and polluted?

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Simplifying the fare system

Let’s use distances as the crow flies

Letter from Lim Poh Seng

I AGREE with Ms Neo Chai Chin’s commentary, “‘Fairer fares’ message lost in transition” (Aug 23).

The extremely complicated new fare structure seems to suggest that only the Public Transport Council (PTC), public transport operators and Land Transport Authority will be able to explain to the public how fares are calculated. Factoring in the time taken to make a transfer between train lines complicates matters.

The train system in some cities (Bangkok and Paris, for example) sees the city divided into a certain number of zones. If you travel to another stop within the same zone, you pay the base price for travelling with a single zone.

When you cross zones, you pay according to the number of zones crossed.

Hence the fares are, in effect, distance-based fares. Furthermore, it is easily explained and digested by the public.

However, commuters travelling a short distance within a single zone have to pay the same fare as others who travel longer distances within the same zone, which some might view as unfair.

Singapore’s distance-based structure is therefore, in theory, a better system.

But to minimise the confusion, and to make the fares transparent to all, why not base fares solely on distance between destinations as the crow flies — not dependent on a train’s route, or factoring in transfer times?

The distances as the crow flies can be determined very easily at the Government website

Wouldn’t it make sense for the fares to be roughly on par?

Involving the time factor in fare calculations when we have been given to understand that fares are distancebased just makes the system more complex.

This flaw in our system must be addressed quickly because as Singapore adds more bus and train routes, the number of combinations to reach our destination will only increase.

I am sure that if the system is simple and seen to be fair, and without ambiguity, even those who have to pay more will come to accept the system.onemap.sg. The distance between Marymount Station and Nicoll Highway and Bras Basah stations are 6km, and 5.9km, respectively, yet the corresponding fares are $1.66 and $1.40.

Conclusion :

If public transports is hell of a problem to some people, then, plse go and buy a car. but, then, dont complain there are too many ERP, road tax,...........whatever....................!!!

If still want to complain, then,, move to a place near to public transport, shopping where one needs not take public transport except perhaps, to and from work.......

Fair enough???

Conculsion :

If 'TIME' = MONEY : I wont mind paying more just to have a shorter route to travel to where i want to go .

In STATISTICS, this CASE belongs to one of the two TAILS on the Population Distribtuion BELL CURVE.

It is an eXceptIOn rather than the nOrm.

It is nOt the BAD TAIL, BLACK SWARM, which brought the World Financial Tsunami.

Rather, it is the GOOD TAIL, WHITE DUCK.

Both WHITE DUCK and BLACK SWARM are the mInOrItIes.

nOt the majOrIty of pOpulatIOn.

bOth WHITE DUCK and BLACK SWARM are nOt REPRESENTATIVE Of the WHOLE POPULATION ?

pharoah88 ( Date: 24-Aug-2010 12:35) Posted:

Distance-based fare saves time, money

Letter from Tan Hong Boon

I REFER to Ms Angie Lim’s letter “New distancebased fare cheaper but ...” (Aug 23).

For the past few years, I have been travelling from my home in Serangoon North to my church in Henderson Road by Service 132. Under the old fare system, this option was the cheapest. However, it was also the most time-consuming. The bus journey alone took me about an hour, excluding waiting time.

Of course, I have other options. I could travel by Service 25 to the Ang Mo Kio MRT Station, then take a train to the Redhill MRT Station before switching to Service 145 to get to my destination. Alternatively, I could take Service 74 to MacRitchie Reservoir before transferring to Service 855.

Although these alternative routes would take me less time, I rarely used them because it would cost me much more money.

Since the new distance-based fares kicked in, however, I have changed my travelling habits. I have been taking Service 74 and transferring to Service 855 to get to church.

Not only is the travelling time shorter, it is also cheaper. Were I to take Service 132 now, it would cost me an extra 17 cents and an extra 15 minutes.

In retrospect, the distance-based fare system has had one distinct advantage for me — it has forced me to think of alternative ways to save time and money.