Today, several Penang-based bloggers and websites simultaneously launched a “Penangites for Trams” campaign.
We hope more bloggers and webmasters – especially all those who care for Penang – will join in the campaign by placing these graphics on their blogs or websites. You may link the graphic to the URL for this post or choose to link to any other article or post about trams. Leave a comment here and you will then be added to the list below of blogs/websites supporting the campaign.
This will help to raise awareness of the viability of trams. Of course, trams work best as part of an integrated public transport system, complementing an efficient and extensive network of buses and other forms of eco-friendly transport.
The latest issue of business weekly The Edge carries a full-page article in support of the re-introduction of trams in Penang.
But one major caveat: Any proposal to bring back trams must be based on the soundest financial feasibility study, with room for possible cost overruns provided. The over-riding concern is that the project should not be a drain on public resources.
So far, these are the bloggers and websites that support the re-introduction of trams in Penang:
- Mustafa K Anuar
- Susan Loone
- Mucked in a Jam
- Penang Watch
- Kris Khaira
- Surind
- Anything Goes
- LAH-mour
- No Kacau and Don’t Kacau
- Stephen Doss
- Contemporary Malaysia
- Black and White (Justin Choo)
- The Kuala Lumpur Traveller
- Forest Explorers
- Apprize
- News for Malaysians
- Wartawan Rasmi Laman Reformasi
- DanielYKL
- Lucia Lai
- I am a Malaysian
- Carol and Jeffrey’s Big View of the World
- Lestari Heritage Network
- Motivation in Motion
- World Messenger
- Brand Bounce
- Sources of Life
- Maaran Matters
- Messy Christian
- Sivin Kit’s Garden
- u-jean
- Fair is what fair wants
- BalikPulau.org
- Sally Knits
- Accidental Blogger
- The Freak
- The Stray World
- Rainstormz
- The Dreamkid Lair
- pbsiew
- Binding Love
- Everything under the Malaysian Sun
- Strategic Analysis and Thoughts
- Justice4otk
- Ecowarriorz
- Teohyj
- prashant’s trashpan
- anilnetto.com
Mr.anil,
MY sincere salute for you.
You follow up,critised by some but stay focus and now the seeds in your minds slowly growing in others blogs.
Hope your pet project will take off and become like a “bayan tree” for the people you fighting for.
I hope there will be many blogs owner will be focus as you and get the public support.
Raj raman666.not the devil999
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Why invest in trams when there are a lot of room for more development and improvement in buses, especially in Penang where we don’t even have any integrated public transportation system at all. In my personal opinion only when the benefit and the capacity of buses are fully tapped and capitalised should we be looking into trams.
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And include double-decker buses – reduces no. of buses & moves more people, more economical and is a favourite among children & tourists.
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Go for it! Trams will run a “more organized” route and schedule – something the “Rabbit Penang” can’t seem to do! It’ll also make Penang look more like a tourist destination – what’s more it can be turned into a “Projek Rakyat” where the investment could come from Penangites with a body of professional no-nonsense (CAT) management running and turning out social and monetary profits to be shared among Penangites! In that case, whether there’ll be a fast or slow change in the Federal Government does not matter! If we make make world cup football live telecast a reality with the people’s “investment”, certainly a more meaningful “tram project” will receive more support!
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Trams are slow and can be delayed by traffic jams. Imagine there are thousands of motorcycles and they are Mat Rempits trying to show off and cut across the tram lines. Also there are many traffic junctions which can delay the trvel time. Ask ourself, how long should a journey last? If at normal speed, it is half hour but with jam, will it take 1 hour? Imagine standing for 1 hour. Still prefer monorail. At least we have a view to look down or at the shophouse and for sure, the monorail can go according to the time table as it stop and pick up passengers. whereas trams cannot follow the time-table. No wonder in Malaysia, we have rubber time.
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Would someone _please_ put on their brain before they start talking about putting trams on the road in Penang?
Wanna make Penang better, please go for it. But please, stop making STOOOOPID suggestions that will only make Penang a ridiculous place to be.
Thank you very much !!
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Penangites for Trams! Totally! To revitalize the city you need to increase human density without increasing numbers of cars and heat-generating car parks. The only answer is public transport, good, clean and cheap to run. It’s the first step towards a eco-sensible direction and a liveable future for Penang.
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Yeah!! I love trams!! Bring them, PJ needs them too!
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[...] several Penang-based bloggers had launched a campaign to bring back trams to Penang. So here is The Kuala Lumpur Traveler’s support for Penangites for Trams [...]
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Kick back payment to UMNO politicians is based on total amount spent on a project. The formula is simple, more we spent, then more kick back they get.
Smaller budget tram project does not look good for UMNO cronies.
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Comment by jughead | Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Would someone _please_ put on their brain before they start talking about putting trams on the road in Penang?
Wanna make Penang better, please go for it. But please, stop making STOOOOPID suggestions that will only make Penang a ridiculous place to be.
Thank you very much !!
===
Hong Kong’s tram is working smoothly adter 100 years of service and tram is considered an effiective mode of transport.
Before calling other stupid, take a mirror to see your own ugly face first.
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[...] by Anil Netto, who has a little write up of the benefits of trams in his blog, the campaign is expected to [...]
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Improve the “bus system” before looking into trams??? and how do you propose we do that…from MPPP bus to rapid Penang…has things changed? The looks of the bus have changed but the system still sucks! C’mon, sometimes you just can’t patch up an old shirt using new cloth… Other countries have proven that tram system is a much efficient and cleaner system than buses. Why not subways? LRT? MRT? Well, if money is not a problem, why not? But as you know, global recession is looming and “water tap” has been shut off by the Federal government since 308…and we definitely need to do something to plan for the future with something within our means…just talking or should I say dreaming about a better bus system isn’t going to help…We need something practical and workable…also if the project is small enough to ward off those cronies and vultures who are only interested in big money, then we can be sure that the money spent will be on the tram project and not into somebody’s pocket! Go for it…for a better and cleaner transport system…Penang will lead the way!!
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mr.anil,
still majority support you althou some comments become very personal.
goooo for it.Penang need some kind of tourist attraction.If mat rempits wants to show off and die let its be.The ferries also should remain with some upgrading.
Loose some but always gain some,tourist money i believe second largest investment.with economies slow down and uncertain federal funding,Penang need to atrract more tourist.
Your pet project wont cost much,hope the chief minister can look into it.No harm to invest a bit,if other countries can do it why Penang cannot.(your statistic does show some points there)
Rajraman666.Love anything classic and enjoy the human factor.
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[...] give it a thought – for the sake of the environment and better traffic system. Check Anil Netto for details of the ‘Penangites for Trams’ [...]
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I go for monorail and tram system that is well integrated together.. each completes the other… learn from KL (do not repeat) where monorail, Star and Putra LRT did not integrate together….
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Ever since i was a kid and my dad used to tell me that there were such things called Trams in Penang in the early 1920s, i always used to wonder how Penang looked like when Trams wandered the streets. Now this dream is about to become a reality.
Now do not get me wrong. It is not only because i want to see how a Tram would look like in PG but ever since i realised what a Tram was, I did my research and found out how cost efficient, and nature friendly they were.
Every time i traveled and saw a Tram it would make me feel so exited and i would take loads of pictures, here are some of my personal “stash” on Trams. There are more pictures but i think this will do to give you a gist on what Trams are.
[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll303/vixstarr/DSC00832.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a Tram line in Manchester, England
[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll303/vixstarr/DSC00840.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a Tram in Manchester, England
[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll303/vixstarr/DSC02614.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a Tram and Tram line in Bydgoszcz, Poland
[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll303/vixstarr/DSC02615.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a Tram in Bydgoszcz, Poland
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[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll303/vixstarr/DSC02615.jpg[/IMG]
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Trams, good idea but the potential of current public transports should be exploited to its fullest.
Current Bus service is appalling, uncomfortable conditions and irregular schedules just to name a few. the taxi? well, how many penangites use taxi? why?
improve the bus service, bring cleaner, more n newer buses, retrain all drivers and conductors to be more professional and be pride in what they do. Have dedicated bus lanes and just make it more appealing in general.
Trams are only good within the city and shopping districts but wont solve the traffic problem.
Public transportation should never be privatised.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
TRAMS?
Anil Netto’s article on TRAMS; that could replace monorail in Penang is interesting. Some of its highlights are as follows;
>“Trams are pollution-free and are being used in cities with narrow roads
> Estimated that less than RM3.8mil (US$1mil) was needed to get an electrical tram system up and running in George Town.
>Old tramlines such as from Prangin Mall to Weld Quay still exists underneath the bitumen road and can be restored for use,” he said. A 50m tramline was unearthed at the Chulia Street-Penang Road junction in 2004 during road works and was preserved by the Penang Municipal Council.
>There are many second- hand trams in other countries that are for purchase.”
>Existing street poles could be used to support the one-cable electrical wiring for trams, he added
See http://anilnetto.com/ for details
May 14th:
THANKS ANIL.
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getting trams back on the penang street is a good campaign but i think before that an indepth study need to be done – is it really possible, seeing that our penang roads are now so congested? i am all for trams in penang but there need to be capable competent people involved in the project and running it.
ok one day when i’m free i’ll put up the penangites for trams banner up in my blog. i’ll link it to the post where ric francis (the aussie rail expert, and a friend of mine) came to give a talk on trams in penang.
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san francisco had it, why not penang ? rushers won’t need it but penangites prefer it,the mat rempits were umno bred so ‘f’ them off ! what are the police for ? go ahead penangites give full support for trams and also a few important route for monorails will do ! come on penangites show your support
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Anil
Congratulations to you and the others on your initiative.
You have the support of the Kelana Jaya People’s Parliament group (http://groups.google.com/group/kjaya_parliament?hl=en)
Some people may disagree with the value of trams on the roads, but I dont think that is the point.
The point is, we need to be able to look at alternatives beyond the traditional solutions (LRT, Monorail, or more cars).
Trams may or may not be a solution for Penang’s public transport issues. However, it is our responsibility to look at all the solutions before we make any decision.
Good luck, and please contact me at transportkini@gmail.com for further discussion of your proposal.
mya
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As a Penangite I would like to wholeheartedly support this initiative. Hope the DAP will act fast on this, hopefully before its too late
p.s I have put on record in my blog to support this initiative .
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At first I was cool with idea with trams, but I recently did a paper on BRT – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit (check the sources for statistics valdiation its still wikipedia:) vs LRT because where I live in the San Fernando Valley of LA theres been a debate where people are now saying it should have been a light rail instead because of the vast distances people commute.
Penang, does not need trams for a transportation solution, and monorail is the worst of them all. Firstly, to show need, the bus use must be maximized first for justification. Penang has very space but subways would be too expensive. The in-between compromise would be a dedicated, right-of-way bus transit (BRT,that somewhat works like rail).
There is no one way solution, and most metro’s a ‘multi-modal’ approach. A subway for georgetown cbd, lrt for the peripheries, feeder busses to supply this main rail artery, but DONT buy into the monorail lie. Once its built theres no turning back and future generations have to pay. Itll be a white elephant- look at the kl lrt which is a joke for people to RELY ON TO GIVE UP THE CAR. Its great for looks and tourists but not a solution at all, and trams are included(unless city of edinburgh says its made for speed)
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