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
Hi Anil,
This will my third and last attempt to post my comment. The earlier two did not appear.
I also support the Penangites for Tram programme @ my new blog: http://blackandwhite999.blogspot.com/
Come to think of it, maybe the trolley buses would be a better option. What is your opinion?
J Choo
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Bro Anil
U r Doing a good job, something nice to bring back trams, well Trams will be transportation & tourism attraction. Waiting to take a ride soon. My dream will come thru ha?
Bro Anil; Why la they cancel the Penang Bridge Run, I know you know. May be should get to the root cause of it & give the public some opening. boleh ke?
tks & God bless.
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We should not wait for upgrade and improvement in the services provided by buses before implementing tams. The presence of Air Asia has enabled MAS to lower fares even when fuel costs escalated. Let the proper management of trams teach the bus operators what to do! Therefore, proper management is very important to ensure success!
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Mr. Anil, is very good idea from you to re-introduce the trams back to Penang.
You certainly got my support for the trams proposal.
Beside that, this article already been posted up in my blog (http://dontkacau.blogspot.com/).
Hope to see more progress in this proposal, looking forward to see trams back in Penang.
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While the idea of trams sounds good, judging from observations in Melbourne, Sydney and now in Zurich, having it in Penang somewhat poses a challenge as there are many factors for consideration including, but not limited to, road behaviour of motorists and pedestrians, planning, training of personnel, integration with rail / bus / ports – both sea and air, maintenance, quality of trams, tariff and real estate / tracking / acquisition of road / land. It has worked for ages for example here in Zurich because of all of the above factors, and quite possibly more.
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Hey Jughead, you seem to be the only one making sense around here — me, i think like you also. Monorail good for Penang. Why you all don’t like monorail ah?
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37 km Penang monorail is expected to cost 1.6 billion!! This project was (allegedly) awarded to PM’s son without open tender.
I am very sure inflated cost involved to oil UMNO politicians’ hand.
If someone can come out a chepaer and better alternative to solve traffic congestion in Penang island with let say 500 millions budget, why we taxpayers shall object any alternative project like tram and bus integrated service.
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Trams are a good idea if they solve the rampant parking on all roads in Penang first. Get the police to clear out illegal parking. Then only do you think about trams.
To solve one problem, you have to look at other problems first. If the police and council do their jobs in clearing rampant parking, then traffic flow will be totally controlled by the traffic lights. Then again, roads in Penang have become too narrow to clear all the cars at each traffic light cos’ there are bottle necks right after each traffic light. 30 years ago, there weren’t as many cars. Then Proton came and many people now own cars. This is because the public transport in Penang were so bad under Koh Tsu Khoon’s tenure. People like him had no foresight in the future of the state. So, with more cars, roads became congested. Maybe he had a directive from someone to screw up the transport system so Proton could sell more cars.
Anyway, monorail is just an expensive bus system that won’t last. An underground MRT would be the answer that will cope with the population for the next 300 years. Yes, it will cost a bomb, but then our Federal Govt. always spends billions in building the tallest building, sending just 1 man to space, ….etc, just to either get into the Guiness Book of World Records, or just to show the Malaysia Boleh. The amount of money Malaysia spends on these crap could solve our poverty problems for a whole generation!
Our neighbour, Singapore, doesn’t have this attitude. They are so small, yet the money spent has totally benefited the people. And even Hong Kong, where they have one of the best transport systems in the world, and people there won’t need to buy a car. They built future proof transport systems. Can’t say that about Penang, though.
So before thinking that trams will solve the transport problems in the city, think ahead about what other problems we may have to solve first.
Oh, don’t think about getting the Federal Govt to send a whole team for 6 months to Germany to learn about public transport design. What they learnt and what they designed here are two different things!
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Hi Anil
Good Project
On Transport needs of Penang, I have the following to share with you.
A] Recently I was in Penang with my family and had difficulty in locating the ferry terminal after paying the toll at Juru. I had to stop a couple of times to get directions as I did not want to use the bridge. Attention should be given to proper and adequate signage to reach the ferry terminal.
B] Introduce the use of articulate buses and reintroduce the Tram services once Penang had.
It is definite cheaper than the overhead Monorail or Subway Monorail. I have done a search on the net and am enclosing some of the sites that I found to be informative and self explanatory. The new models of Trams can be powered by electric or Hybrid engines such as Diesel or NGV.
Articulate Buses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulated_bus
http://www.photo-transport.co.uk/buses/artic-conquest/artic-conquest.htm
http://www.ltd.org/search/showresult.html?versionthread=91a9a11313910620861b5f2c1d51daff
http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels fleetest/pdfs/40585.pdf
Street cars on single rail guide
http://www.villagetechnology.com/buses.html
Streetcars or Trams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramcars
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/11/26/story10.html
http://www.skoda.cz/skoda-transportation/products/tramcars/tramcar-skoda-13-t-aid1880.html
http://www.huawei.com/publications/view.do?id=2893&cid=5269&pid=127
http://www.euronet.nl/~wijzer/elders.htm
http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/weyrich.cfm
http://www.heritagetrolley.org/artcileBringBackStreetcars3.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-08-streetcars_x.htm
http://www.connectaustin.org/benefits_of.php
http://www.calcuttatramways.com/history.htm
http://www.globalphotos.org/hk-tram02.htm
http://www.hktramways.com/en/company/index.html
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/turin/
http://www.kolkatabeckons.com/tramcar.html
http://www.koncar.com/novost.asp?nov_id=312
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Metrolink
http://www.cabq.gov/transit/modernstreetcar.html
http://www.pragoimex.cz/en/o.php?o=products
http://www.1kfriends.org/Transportation/WI_Transportation_Projects_/Streetcars.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Melbourne
http://www.answers.com/topic/tram-2
http://www.metromonorail.com.au/extensionupdate.asp
http://www.pyongyang-metro.com/metrotrams.html
http://en.beijing2008.cn/32/80/article214078032.shtml
http://www.proaktiva.ch/tram/index.html
Info on Penang’s Tram services 1880 to 1963.
http://www.arecabooks.com/webpages/press01.html
http://www.arecabooks.com/webpages/books08c.html
http://www.arecabooks.com/webpages/books08h.html
http://anilnetto.com/category/public-transport/
http://penangwatch.net/taxonomy/term/6
Thank you and hope the above information will be useful to solve the transport woes in Penang. If the 2nd Bridge is a reality it should incorporate the Tram or at least a sky train [it will not hinder traffic movement on the bridge] to link the mainland and the island. The cost can be offset by cancelling the sightseeing deck in the centre of the bridge.
Thank you
With warmest regards
Sunny
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My take? In all honesty, i think it will be a great project with very good and sensible intentions. However, before the trams could happen, i think that there’s a lot more that needs to be worked on, i.e. revamping the public transportation system in Penang.
Let’s take Perth for example. Though trams system doesn’t exist there, they’ve what they call the CAT bus system. Basically, these CAT buses provide free transportation within City and Fremantle (tourist attraction). In the city, CAT runs on 3 routes (and i’m not too sure how many routes in Freo) connecting every part of the city. Because of CATS, there’s hardly any traffic congestion in the city nor Freo.
And you probably might think that one needs to drive to the city and park their cars in the parking blocks before they can hop onto CAT. And if they do, why don’t they just drive to their desired destination? Well, the Perthians do… but not all. Mainly because petrol price is sky high (mind you, their petrol is NOT subsidised by the g’ment) and there’s very limited parking spaces in town, not to mention it’s expensive too. So. the Perthians join their rakyat hopping onto one of those suburb buses and/or trains connecting to the city. And in order for these systems to integrate well, buses and trains come on time, there are ample buses and trains on stand-by, and drivers are considerate and ethical.
Hence, my take on trams for Penangites is that revamping the system is most vital before anyone plants another white elephant in the middle of the road. Let’s hope that the new CM will have better foresight than the previous one
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Anil congrats in being the impetus for some self organization happening. The issue here should not be which type of public transportation as everyone (and their grandmother) has an opinion.
The way to do this is to get the expert that has been most sucessful in implementing a cost effective and efficient system.
No one can claim this better than Jaimie Lerner the ex-Mayor of Curitiba and the ex-governer of Parana. A trained Architect from one of the more environmentally conscious schools (UC Berkeley) and a person of enomous energy, foresight and resourcefulness. He has made Curitiba the only city in the world that has achieved the 60′s dream of an environmental city. He consults with all the largest cities in the world (New York and Shanghai) and also the more recent sucessful example of Bogota, Colombia.
He is famed for his bi-articulated buses but his city also has trams. The strategy should be to shift the debate from the type of public transportation system to getting the public/civil society to be educated and organized and push for the hiring of a truest and tried expert which no government can argue against and then to implement it quickly once the will of the people has been organized.
The elite of our country sit on the boards of IJMs, Peroduas and Scomis are only interested in creating more roads to sell cars or create defunct public transportation systems (monorail).
A bus and tram combination similar to the one in Curitiba is an affront to the elite and thus the logic of the plan and implementer has to be of the highest order.
Many moons ago I had invited Lucien Kroll (another green Architect) to publish his write up in the Star, the article can be viewed here :
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3575/is_1227_205/ai_54956126
Good Luck and I await the day I don’t get stuck in traffic in Jelutong
Ken Yeh
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Hi, Anil,
Another problem,regard the Black and White (Justine Choo),
He is Justin, not Justine (which is she):))
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Hi, Anil,
Stephen Doss hyperlink is not correct.
Here the correct address:
[url]http://stephendoss.blogspot.com/2008/05/penangites-for-trams.html[/url]
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Trams are only good in short distance or a sort of tourist attraction for Ulu Malaysians. If Trams are really good, why San Franco and HK do not build more trams? HK trams run a short distance from Sau Kei Wan to Central.
Trams also have to share the road with many road users like dogs, cats, pedestrians, cyclist, motorcyclists and vehicles. Imagine, there are many traffic lights, and road users trying to cross the road and tram lines. As a result, trams are really slow and if regular users will give and go back to cars or motorcycles. If there is an accident in the morning, all the trams in that line cannot move until it is clear. So good on you that you can have the morning w/o going to work.
Also you may think it is cheap. No, you have to dig up the road laid with water, electricity and internet cables all over the road in Penang. Imagine, the traffic jam in the CBD while the existing road is dug for the tracks.
Whereas for the monorail, we can be sure that there will not be any traffic jam and it is a dedicated line – no other sharer except for passengers who already prepay and just waiting to hop in and off. Whereas, trams can be delayed there are passengers digging for the coins or last minute runners trying to flag down the tram.
So system is cheap. But to be a serious transport system that draws riders instead of losing patrons, it must be efficient and running on time and will not be delayed. If there is a system that does that I will give up my motorcycle which beat jams and parking.
So be practical rather than base on novelty or just to attract tourist rather than sitting in the tram caused by traffic jams. Even Melbourne has not been building more tram lines.
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Yes. We need Trams – cheap, efficient and a great tourist attraction. I have this “Penangites for Trams” campaign in my blog.
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Before asking experts to revamp our public transport system, let’s get the public involved in the planning of it. Some of the previous government of Penang never knew what the daily commuter goes through each day. They only assume what we go through and normally make no changes based on their assumptions. They just say, ” Looks ok mah!”. They should try waiting for a bus or taxi like the rest of us, then go back and think hard.
Or try driving to and from work each day like everyone else at peak hours. That will give them insight to what we go through everyday. Bumpy roads, bad drivers, slow drivers, cars parked in no parking zones, etc.
This is typical of the Penang driving attitude. Inconsiderate drivers, who will just keep the car running while waiting for someone. Just go to Beach Street and experience the amount of cars waiting in front of the banks. Or even park their cars right at the junction. Put a policeman there within visibility and, suddenly, all drivers behave like model citizens! But then, have you ever seen a policeman in Penang? I forget what they look like for not having seen them in the streets for years.
And what does the old government do about it? Nothing at all, cos it’s all “ok mah!”.
And the suggestion of trams? Let’s not decide on something temporary that will last for 15 years. Most government projects for Penang is designed and implemented 10 years later. By then, the population would have increased, cars would have doubled, even more housing and prices would have gone up. Talking about white elephants, there’s Komtar to look at. We need forward looking visionaries as government. Of course, Koh Tsu Khoon and visionary is an oxymoron.
A visionary would predict our travel habits for the next 100 years.
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Dear Anil
I have not been well lately; hence I did not write to you.
Yes, this is exactly I wrote to you sometime ago that when
I landed in Penang in 1950, I saw Trams running along jalan Penang. I trust Penangites dreams will come true.
Guan Eng should draw up a new Plan to bring back Penang
as a City which it was. The previous politicians purposely destroyed and downgraded it – but now it is up to DAP with the assistance of others to rebuild the city.
In 1960 Singapore was similar to Penang but it has been completely beautified. It can be done and it must be done.
I pray.
Hamid Ibrahim
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Anil,
I am trying again for the fourth time to send this comment.
What about trolley buses? It may be more feasible bec you don’t have to lay tracks.
Justin Choo
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Although i’d like to see trams in Penang, it cost way too much to implement a decent tram system, lets no forget the maintainance of such a system and whether we have the expertise… me thinks trains are the way to go..
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Well, can the current bus service be improved first? Consolidate/buyout all the inefficient bus companies into one organization owned by the state, put some capable people to manage it, and hire your own drivers & maintanence teams instead of subcontracting/renting out the buses. That way, you don’t have to worry about competition of routes, schedules, and fares.
Otherwise if you just add trams, you’re gonna make the situation far worse than it is…
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well mr.anil,
i still follow up your dream project buts its seems your gang of bloggers forgoten about it by now.
i dont see the sign of banners in their blogs anymore.You are consistent but some are not.I came to know about your blogs throu some blogs owner mention highly about u but this guy doesnt support u.
This what i call human-will champion others until they are famous than they champion for themself.
rajraman666.wondering who am i championing.
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hei there anil & hamid ibrahim!!! I agree with you … we need to bring Penang back to what it was. Thanks to the previous ‘jokers’ .. Penang had lost it’s city status. i wonder .. how can a city simply be downgraded to a town??? hhmmmm … so .. now i hope and pray that with Guan Eng as our C.M., we will be able to regain the city-stats and also … bring the TRAMS back into the city. being the younger generation, i never did get the opportunity to see the trams of penang. enjoyed riding on them in Melbourne and fell in love with it though. LET’S DO IT!!! … Let’s revive the TRAMS in PENANG!!!
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Trams for Penang? I would urge everyone of you to consider this very carefully. I live in Melbourne. The streets here are much, much wider than those in Penang. And yet we have acute congestions where tram lines run. If your aim is to present Penang in a more “romantic” light, I’ll say “go for it”. But if it is to ease traffic congestions, my advice is, don’t do it. Monorails, though more expensive initially, would in my humble opinion be a better option if solving the traffic nightmare in Penang is the ultimate aim.
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Yep, Trams For Penang and Penang For Trams. So be it!
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Anil,
Wrong link for Stephen Doss blog posting.It should be;
http://stephendoss.blogspot.com/2008/05/penangites-for-trams.html
Anyway, this is good project for our lovely Penang. Well done!
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