This is for those of us who couldn’t make it for the Pulau Tikus town hall meeting organised by the Penang Municipal Council as part of the Penang Transport Council’s pilot project to de-congest Pulau Tikus.
Dr Lim Mah Hui of the Penang Transport Council addressing the town hall meeting – Photos courtesy of Dr S P Choong
The participants, journalists and police at the town hall meeting
Maybe the following exchange will encourage public discussion and participation in the initiative towards more sustainable transport.
First the write-up by soohuey, who attended the town hall meeting:
A meeting was held in the Pulau Tikus Town Hall on Saturday, 10 October 2009, to enable the Penang state government and local council members to meet with stakeholders to discuss implementation of plans to decongest traffic in Pulau Tikus. The implementation in Pulau Tikus is to serve as a pilot project with potential to be expanded state-wide.
Reproduction of meeting invitation can be seen here. The invitation defines “stakeholders” as “the local communities and traders, commercial and office commuters, school children and the public at large”.
Having grown up with fond memories exploring the streets of Pulau Tikus and now living in possibly the most congested street in Pulau Tikus, I attended the meeting as a Penangite and avid resident of Pulau Tikus. Below is my personal account/impression of the meeting.
The meeting was scheduled for 4.00pm, but only started well past 4.30pm because we were waiting for the arrival of Chow Kon Yeow (State Exco for Local Government, Traffic Management and Environment) and Koay Teng Hai (Adun, Pulau Tikus) who were stuck in Butterworth. Whilst this delay was unfortunate, it did allow for small talk between those present. At this time, a common question asked was “How come so few people?”
Attendance: I counted seven or eight people on seats allocated for the press, and turned around to estimate about five people who may be people who actually live/work in Pulau Tikus. A few more turned up after the meeting started and some came and went, but I doubt people who live/work in Pulau Tikus outnumbered everyone else at any point during the meeting.
Commencement: “Rajan”, who introduced himself as a representative of the local council (MPPP), eventually called the meeting to a start and explained that Chow and Koay were caught in Butterworth; so the meeting would proceed without them. (Koay made it to the meeting in the later part of Q & A session). It was never made very clear to me what role Rajan plays in MPPP.
Rajan stated that the meeting was to discuss upcoming plans to relieve traffic congestion in Pulau Tikus and invited a “Dr Lim” to tell us more about the plans. Although Dr Lim went on to explain that he was part of a relatively newly formed “Penang Transport Council”, it was again not very clear to me what role he played within the council. Throughout the meeting, the people who were speaking on behalf of the State/council were “Rajan”, “Dr Lim” and “Dr Choong” (but I’ve no idea what their full names are or their specific roles/involvements. I’m not even sure if “Dr Choong” was one of them or one of us! I was starting to realise I had no idea whom I was talking to. This felt like an “insiders’ meeting” where people should already know each other. It is difficult to work out how much each person should know or be responsible for without knowing their titles and credentials. Perhaps someone else who was present can tell me if it was mentioned very quickly but I missed it?
Penang Transport Council: The Council (PTC) was set up by the State in June 2009 to tackle transport problems and issues within the State. There are 15 primary members in the council and they are comprised of civil servants and volunteers (presumably including academia in traffic management).
Background: According to Dr Lim/PTC, Penangites own more vehicles than there are Penangites — 1.6 million Penangites own 1.7 million cars and motorcycles! In addition to general congestion due to due sheer volume of traffic, illegal parking is a main cause of traffic obstruction and congestion. PTC has identified 400 parking spots within Pulau Tikus, but they are under-used because people prefer to park illegally right in front of their destination than to park at a legal parking spot and have to walk.
The Plan: PTC plans for improving traffic in Penang are divided into three phases — short term, mid term and long term. At this juncture, I must admit I wasn’t planning to report back formally on this meeting, and so didn’t take detailed notes of what is involved in each phase and I am now working from memory. Perhaps others who attended can assist. Short and/or mid term plans include setting up bicycle lanes, dedicated bus lanes, providing feeder buses, educating the public and promoting public transport. These were run through rather quickly, but although promising, they were still too vague and uninteresting for me to remember the long term plans.
Tyre-clamping: The main initiative to be discussed at the meeting was the introduction of tyre clamping for illegally parked cars. This is to be implemented along Burmah Road between Codrington Avenue and Brown Road, along Cantoment Road between Jalan Berjaya and Kelawai Road, and along Bangkok Lane. If successful, this initiative will be scaled up to other parts of Penang.
Rationale: Reducing illegal parking = Reducing traffic obstruction = Reducing traffic congestion.
Step-by-step implementation: Public awareness and “education” campaigns will begin 19 October 2009. This involves putting up signs, informing the public of the initiative and discouraging illegal parking through various media. After a “warning” has been disseminated, tyre clamping will begin on 3 Nov 2009.
How does it work? When a car is parked illegally (eg. on double lines), an appointed MPPP employee will sound a whistle. If the owner of the car does not return to the car after the whistle is rung, the car will be clamped. Drivers who return to find their cars clamped will have to contact MPPP to get the clamp removed, wait for the MPPP to arrive and will be charged an administrative fee for clamp removal. Cars will not be clamped if the owners arrive to their car in time after hearing the whistle, when there is a driver inside (i.e. cars waiting, not parked) or if it is double-parked such that clamping the tyre will obstruct legally parked cars from coming out. In its early phase, tyres will only be clamp at fixed times (i.e. not 24 hours), but this may be extended at the end of this pilot phase.
Why I’m doubtful – The Pulau Tikus scenario
During the meeting, members of the public highlighted that much of the traffic obstruction in Pulau Tikus was due to cars waiting or double-parked and thereby trapping a car inside. In both these scenarios, clamping would not be applicable and does not serve as a deterrent. Tyre clamping was grandly presented as “The Solution” to our traffic woes, which is funny because it doesn’t seem to be designed to address our problems!
In response to a question, “Where in Pulau Tikus do we have traffic obstruction due to illegal parking or parking on double lines??”, Dr Lim responded opposite the police station, along Burmah Road between Moulmein and Cantoment Roads. People who live and frequent Pulau Tikus can easily tell you that the cars in front of the stores opposite the police station are almost all waiting. Everyone who frequents those stores knows that all you need to do is honk and you’ll be served at the window of your car. If the driver can’t stop right at the front, then he/she may pop out, but definitely not long enough to be clamped or even have the whistle blown. Clamping is barely applicable here. This stretch is also not the best example of traffic congestion because moving traffic generally passes by these waiting cars rather easily. I expect minimal impact on traffic flow even if they are able to prevent cars from waiting in front of the stores.
A stretch of unarguable traffic congestion which is included in this initiative is in front of Public Bank and the post office along Cantoment Road. However, while there is indeed congestion here daily, it is caused mostly by cars waiting or double parked. Again, clamping is not applicable.
It was brought up during the introduction that Bangkok Lane is another street with bad traffic congestion and people parked illegally. While it may be true that Penangites like to park illegally, including along Bangkok Lane, I find it extremely amusing that Bangkok Lane should be highlighted as a street with bad traffic congestion and plagued by illegal parking. Instead, it is probably one of the better streets in Pulau Tikus! I’ve found myself walking down Bangkok Lane almost in the middle of the road during the day because it doesn’t have high traffic! One day when I was desperately looking for a carpark during lunchtime to get to the post office, I drove down Bangkok Lane because I knew I’d be able to find a park there. In fact, I could drive in comfortably because there were so many slots! Yes, you may have to get close to the Kelawai Road end, but it really isn’t hard to find parking along Bangkok Lane and there is no need to park illegally. Again, not the best place to test the effect of tyre clamping on relieving traffic congestion. Try Jones Road.
Taken together (along with other statements made by PTC/MPPP representatives during the meeting), it is clear that PTC has a poor understanding of traffic in Pulau Tikus and proper study was not conducted to truly understand the root of problems in Pulau Tikus. The solution that is being offered will create hype and may work initially. However, as explained above, because tyre clamping is barely applicable in the above scenarios, this initiative only serves as a scare-tactic at best and does not offer a solution. It is very disappointing that PTC was not able to show more credibility in having done its homework on Pulau Tikus and show evidence of insight into how this initiative can realise its potential.
Why I’m doubtful – Drawing conclusions for expansion: Discussions on my doubts on why the application and applicability of tyre clamping in the designated zones in Pulau Tikus cast doubt on the usefulness of any success as a determinant whether the initiative should be expanded State-wide.
It is vital that pilot projects are designed so they can effectively test the condition being examined. I strongly believe that this pilot project would be much more meaningful if it is carried out where it is more applicable. Is this failure due to lack of homework, lack of sincerity or mere incompetence somewhere along the chain?
Why it will “work” and then won’t work
It is likely that traffic congestion in the designated areas will be alleviated when this project is run. This is because they have received commitment by the police to focus as many personnel as they can in these zones during the pilot period. This is to ensure that the project runs effectively. Representatives from the police were present at the meeting and showed strong commitment to providing the personnel. Hence, there will be more police going around getting cars that are waiting to move along. However, a reduction in traffic congestion because there are more police patrols preventing people from waiting is not the same as tyre clamping working being successful in deterring traffic congestion. It is the increased policing that will move cars that are causing congestion, and therefore creating the *illusion* that tyre clamping is working because it coincides with the initiative!
What will happen at the end of this pilot project is that they will declare tyre clamping a success, expand it to other parts of Penang, all the police seconded to Pulau Tikus will return to their original placements, occasionally cars will have their tires clamped but it will never fulfil its potential and won’t have much effect on traffic congestion in Penang. By this time next year, the hype will be over and it will be business as usual. Nonetheless, the DAP can say they’ve done something – that it was successful! Tyre clamping will be another initiative that is all smoke and flares but without substance. How often have we heard of grand promising plans that end up amounting to nothing? Koay nodded to me and said this won’t just be “Hangat hangat tahi ayam”… Let’s wait and see.
In the meantime, we can be more assured that we can stay comfortably in the store/restaurant after parking our cars illegally because we’ll be notified by a whistle when it has to be moved.
Dr Lim Mah Hui responds:
It is encouraging to receive the report by one of the participants at Saturday’s town hall meeting on decongesting traffic in Pulau Tikus. While I agree with some of her comments and not others, I nevertheless welcome her contribution and engaging in public discussion. That is the essence of participatory democracy. I can fully understand the writer’s scepticism about political will to see projects like this through, given the dismal track record of politicians.
At the same time, the writer also has the responsibility to continue to monitor and push this new set of politicians in the state of Penang to live up to their promises and more importantly to provide constructive suggestions on alternatives if he/she thinks this will not work.
It is useful to get the writer’s feedback that members of the public want this to succeed and that “whistling” and just giving warning (the soft-approach) does not work. That gives more support for the council to go ahead with a firm approach after the initial period of education.
Finally, it is noted that next time, proper introduction of the organisers should be helpful. Dr. Lim Mah Hui is heading the task force on public awareness and Dr Choong Sim Poey, heading the task force on public transport in the PTC. Mr Rajendran is the engineer in charge of traffic management in MPPP.
It should be emphasised that this was not an insiders’ meeting. Great effort was expanded to publicise the meeting through press statements, blog sites, and over 1,000 leaflets were circulated to shopkeepers and public in the market. It is up to the public like this writer to help inform their friends and invite them to such meetings.
Hopefully, this is the beginning, not end of such meetings. The above are my personal views and not that of the PTC.
And an observation by Dr Choong Sim Poey:
Most locals (present) were supportive – that finally congestion was going to be rationally addressed. This proposal has been mooted by STEP working with Dr Teng since 1990; discussed many times but never fully implemented. Once there was a short trial run in Gurney Drive but the government backed down (in the face of) public objections.
As for me, I just want to add that I am looking forward to future sustainable transport moves by the Transport Council, especially if it involves converting certain streets of George Town into pedestrian malls, providing bicycle lanes and promoting wider use of public transport.
Anil,
Solve the car population in Penang Island first. By the way, Penang roads ain’t big……Lofty ideas…..Aiyoh
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It is unfortunate that there were more non-stakeholders than stakeholders (PT residents) present in the meeting. Such is the apathetic nature of people here and we need as much help as possible from everybody to try to change this. Leaflets were dropped in many houses in PT and my auntie staying in Moulmein Road receieved one in her mailbox. Anil’s blog and the Star gave some publicity to this townhall but short of pulling people out of their houses and promising door gifts and free food, I am not sure what else the organisers can do to get more people to attend. What I was most disappointed was the pathetic excuses given by the Traffic chief that they cannot issue summonses for waiting and obstructing traffic. If the enforcers are still stuck in their not-invented-here syndrom and continue to give lame excuses on what they cannot do, this initiative ain’t gonna work. Good start Dr. Lim and your team! You guys need to work on those enforcers to get their 100% commitment.
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Well done Penang Transport Council. Such initiatives to genuinely and honestly engage the Penang public and to move forward concretely on REAL problems is welcome. Sure there will be fits and starts but it is all part of our learning curve in dealing with social issues. And it is certainly better than continuing to blame the BN for all our current woes.
We voted for CHANGE, not for same. Initiatives like this from the Penang Transport Council – along with genuine and substantive follow through – is what we want in Penang.
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The usual Greenie procedure – doubtful, this cannot and that cannot and the consequence – knowing the problems the event will bring but CANNOT provide the solution.
Also they do not understand that it is a PILOT scheme and this the most economical. Other methods such as building bicycle lane and trams, means more money to demolish heritage buildings and land like Kg Buah pala. Then the Greenies will scream again.
The clamping is to change Malaysian mentality and to warn them. Whether it works is a PILOT scheme. I have seen in the most busiest road in Jln Bkt Bintang, drivers will stop and wait for the shoppers and 10 minutes or more will cause backlog. So what is the point of having MORE PUBLIC BUSES and TRAMS if a stationary roadside car can held up the flow?
That is why many countries are building rails so they need not to share with other road users. But it is expensive. As for trams, from one end to the CBD on Hong Kong takes more than 1 hour on Sat and Sunday. Imagine, how long if it is a working day. Further the trams in HK are very agile and frequent as compare to Melbourne Trams which are bigger in size.
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Anil, cars in Penang on the rise, when economy rises, more cars on the road. More clampings, more clamping cars storage area, more MPPP personels, more overhead for MPPP..how many cars we have now?
Sigh!!
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Why do you need a public consultation with time and space constrain? Why can’t PTC organise it thru’ blog with a moderator? Isn’t it easily for the public to give their feedback thru’ writing as what soohuey did? Why can’t we exchange our ideas thru’ blog without the constraint of time and space? Is this just another lips service type of public participatory and consultation?
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I actually suggested the idea of a virtual (online) town house meeting to Mah Hui this morning. Maybe it is something that the Penang Transport Council will consider at some point as an option, perhaps for state-wide transport issues.
That said, there are advantages of having a physical town hall meeting for specific localities, as it allows residents to interact and get to know one another better and can be specifically targeted to local needs.
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I believe it still is the job of the police and the MPPP to stop illegal parking. I’ll just use one of the roads in Pulau Tikus as an example. Put a policeman standing there and you’d see that cars will not park illegally. No car would even wait there. If they do, police will just ask him to move along. In Penang, it’s very, very rare to see a policeman…. In Hong Kong, police are at every street corner walking their beat. The city council guys are also walking their beat, putting tickets on illegally parked cars. These HK Police can’t be bought.
Anyway, back to Penang’s congestion woes, the government we elected should be the one solving this problem instead of us giving them tips. Just because they’re lazy, they keep coming up with excuses and reason’s why this or that won’t work. This is directed especially at Chow Kon Yeow, who’s very good at making excuses or saying he’s still studying the situation. He’s not made a move yet. Come on! You have 2 more years before we vote at the next GE13. DAP wanted our vote so we gave it to them. Now they act like BN.
I have had online meetings for business and they work very well. A virtual meeting with a politician? That might not work too well. Unless we can look into their eyeballs, face to face, they will just avoid the question and go offline. I love the tech side of it. But that same tech can be used to the politician’s advantage, too. But it certainly is one way to get more people to speak to our elected representatives.
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Penang is already a failed state in a failed country. The only way to survive is try to squeeze out as much $$$ as we can from companies, corporations, clubs, whatever…by corruption, cheating, cronies….
Everybody knows that with $$$, we can “settle” anything… so why bother to obey the law???????
Illegal parking, illegal conversion of residential to commercial, que jumping, littering, illegal house renovation/expansion…
Just look at Jalan SUngai Kelian, Hillside…until now MPPP and DAP cannot solve the illegal conversion to commercial issue.
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Soohuey, thank you for writeup and the analysis of traffic situation in Pulau Tikus. I would suggest it would be extend to Jalan Pasar as well as traffic is really bad at this area. It is a well known fact the police is not doing their job and if you complain about them, they will tell you they do not enough man power. I agreed that why can’t the police walk the beat here? What happen to the bicycles that was donate by the former YB of Pulau Tikus? Mr. Ong Eu Soon, please give this new team a chance to work. From your past blog, I understand that you had a lot of bad experince with the former government espeacially KSK. Don’t just pour cold water. Most of the time, it is very diificult to get the people involve in this type of dialog. They would prefer to make complains in the coffee shop.
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No prob. You’re welcome. There was mention of extending the initiative to Jln Pasar in the future, but its not included in current pilot.
For Jalan Pasar, there is a row of cars parked and congestion during peak market hrs is usually coz of the 1+ row of cars waiting alongside. If there are cars double-parked, it will also be tricky if you want to clamp them and lock their cars in the obstructing position.
My thoughts (Can let me know what you think) are that we should get rid of the row of parking slots directly in front of the market. Convert the current row of parking to a waiting zone. No matter what, people will want to wait or drop people off. Why not create a zone for them to legitimately wait? In fact, the area opposite it (where the rubbish tank is located) can be redesigned into a waiting area where people can drive in, wait and drive off without too much difficulty (design is key). The State can negotiate with the commercial parking lot at Solok Moulmein to reduce their prices comparable to the redesignated MPPP slots and cars that used to park in the MPPP slots can use the commercial lot instead.
This way, we can clamp cars that are parked in the waiting bays without fear that clamping will further obstruct traffic.
Currently I believe the parking lots in front of the market are usually occupied by people working in the markets. They park there for convenience to dropoff/reload their goods. However, dropoff/reload usually occurs at the start (very early) or end (less traffic) of the day and perhaps its possible to negotiate a way for them to do it at the waiting bay but drive off to park their cars elsewhere once they’re done. May not be popular, but possible and they’ll see the benefits afterwards?
Wonder if there have been other ideas out there?
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Btw, Jones Rd is really bad for congestion due to illegal parking but is very tricky politically to resolve. I notice there are 1 or 2 abandoned houses on the road. At least one of them is coz someone’s died and his/her children are overseas so due to problems with will (something similar), the house is stuck and the children can’t be bothered doing something about it.
I wonder if the State would be able to buy over these dilapidated buildings (with your help?) and convert land into parking lots. Its in the middle of the road, so will be able to cater to businesses at both ends.
I think it’ll be able to solve some of the congestion, but parking MUST be time-limited because the aim is to accommodate customers of businesses on the road and not people who work there and will park for the full day. One idea to incorporate time-limit is to charge 30cents/30min until 2hrs, then increase drastically (eg. RM2/hr) for every hour afterwards. It’ll deter full day parking, but lunch/dinner crowds will be encouraged to use it.
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Anil,
Thanks for posting my writeup and getting responses from the speakers. Sorry for my slow response. It is great to be able to engage in dialogue here as well. In response to your comment above, I believe online dialogues can only be supplementary to face-to-face town hall meetings because you’ll be marginalising communities whose voices are already not heard enough. The people who can coherently voice their opinions online are probably able to fend for themselves. Plus, I find it quicker to verbally voice my comments than in writing.
–
Dear Dr Lim & Dr Choong,
Thank you for your replies. I offer my thoughts in goodwill as I would too like to see sustainable transport in Penang. I hope you see them as feedback/points of consideration and not criticism. I applaud and admire your efforts in helping work towards a sustainable Penang.
I had to balance between giving readers sufficient run down on what transpired during the meeting and length of my writing, so inadvertently left out aspects of the meeting and discussion points.
When I questioned the investment on clamps and roll-out of this initiative vs spending on initiatives that may be more suited to our problems, and then followed by asking the police (wish I remember his name) if he would be able to do his job better if he was better equipped, what I was trying to achieve was to say “OK, I accept your reasons why you can’t summon people in time, so tell me what you will need to do your job better”.
I realised I didn’t put my question forward very well. However, I didn’t pursue because I didnt want to hog the mike (more than I already was) and also because I realised that the core of our problems cannot be resolved in that meeting. Namely:
1. Such initiatives would be better designed and carried out by local councils with elected members comprising of people from the local community or at least discussions would benefit from collaboration with such councils, BUT elections for local councils is currently “not allowed”.
2. To truly address our problems, we need a more integrated approach, BUT this is not possible so long as institutions such as the police, education and JPJ are still federally controlled. The system which I suggested where a police would be equipped with an equipment where relevant data for a vehicle can be called up instantaneously upon entering its registration plate and summon can be printed from the equipment immediately is only possible if there is effective coordination between the police/MPPP and JPJ, and the State needs to be able to administer this.
In view of 1 & 2, I realise the State & PTC are not in an enviable position. Essentially the root of ALL our problems including transport boils down to the system. The State needs more power n freedom from federal government, More power needs to be given to the people via local council elections, and of course there’s the problem with general corruption, inefficient/ineffective administration etc. As such, the work of groups like Aliran and Jerit become more pertinent and is beyond the scope of Saturday’s meeting.
I have a long term plan for how I can best contribute to Malaysia. Unfortunately this means I must be selective of how I spend my time for now and am resorting to merely contributing thoughts in forums such as this. Whatever little they are worth, I hope they contribute to a growing public voice and encourage groups like PTC, Aliran, Jerit.
Going back to my impressions of the meeting, I’m sure you did not intend for it to be an insider’s meeting. It was just a bit of feeling I got, perhaps because of the disproportionate crowd. I’m happy the man who spoke up on whether its a ‘Discussion & Suggestion’ session or if its already a decided decision took to the microphone. In hindsight, I feel more effort should have been made to encourage people like him to speak up and elaborate their view. It will drag time, but that is a side-effect of public participation. If we genuinely want to reach out to the people, it is more voices like his that we want to hear, to understand. If we consider human psychology and that there are groups of people who are not used to having their voices heard (too long in a repressive regime), I felt the meeting was too much like a meeting to make an announcement and not enough of “Please tell us what you think” vibe. Perhaps something to consider for future meetings?
Also, can you tell me if MPPP can also issue summonses? I recall MPPP personnel going around on bikes writing parking fines. What has happened to them? How come the emphasis was on the police?
Finally, kudos and thank you for following through with work from STEP. How many members in PTC are from STEP? Are they essentially the same and so have access to studies and networks previously established?
Thank you & Warm regards,
Soo Huey
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Btw, besides having recently made acquaintance with a few people from Aliran and Jerit, my views are completely independent from theirs. Any similarity in views are evidence that the problems we face, their cause and potential solutions are obvious and clear to any intelligent person.
I’m intentionally making this point because I want people to realise that you don’t need to be an activist, you don’t need to be part of a civil society group to be able to critically examine issues affecting your life, understand issues, form your own opinions and speak up on changes you’d like to see.
Speaking up and acting shouldn’t be the domain of just NGOs and select groups. Any aunty, uncle, brother, sister, anyone who lives in the State has the right to a view and the ability to affect the people around them. I’ve written my views. What are yours?
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Hi everyone,
Arguably, the most congested road junction in Pulau Tikus area is that at Jones Road and Kelawei Road junction! At this junction, the ‘illegal hawkers’ ply their trade, even putting many tables and chairs on the road proper, with customers even double-parking, mind you not waiting in their cars, at the juntion! You can even seen police personnel, top civil servants being among the clientele of these hawkers, oblivious to possible danger of cars/vehicles knocking them down while they’re enjoying their food!
This traffic-heavy junction poses very real danger to motorists using it. The situation there has been such for at least the past 20 years.
May I ask: “Do the MPPP, the police and other relevant authorities have any plan to rectify the problem at this road junction?”
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Jones Road is the reason I found it amusing that anyone should think Bangkok Lane is bad..
I frequent both ends of Jones Rd. To be honest, I love the food and people at the Kelawai Rd end so much that I can understand why police and high officials are reluctant to clamp down on them. I would love for these hawkers to stay too…
Hence, we need to find a solution where they can stay and cars going to their business can find a place to park. I think that will be the only acceptable solution without strong backlash.
Burmah Rd end is narrower and actually much worse than Kelawai Rd end. However, because it is too difficult to address the Kelawai Rd end, they are also doing nothing about the Burmah Rd end. At least they’re fair!
We need to find parking for both ends of Jones Rd, so short of relocating the stalls outside the flats, the best solution I can think of is to acquire the land halfway down the street and convert to parking space for people going to either end.
Ironically tire clamping would work excellent here! But due to cronyism, it’ll never happen… so not surprised they aren’t using Jones Rd for the pilot project.
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If we have problem issuing tickets to illegally parked cars as it is, there is no hope that clamping will be the solution. Maybe it will work but only the first few months.
All we need is disipline in our enforcement agencies.
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Soohuey’s idea on time limited parking with high charges will not work better than valet parking. With valet parking as provided by hotels, restaurants, and airports, no waiting zones are needed at all. Those who manage the service will be there to chase away any illegal parking. Customers will have the convenient of having their cars parked else where without having to walk a long distance. This is especially helpful for disable person and a special discount can be given too. The state government will not find it hard to privatise the valet parking services.
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Thanks for your comments, Ong Eu Soon.
I imagine a valet parking establishment would be reasonably big (for someone to bother with the investment). However, the time-limited parking was mentioned to address Jones Road, where there is limited land and space in the area. The businesses are simple hawkers who are unlikely to be bothered with valet parking services. The idea to use the land where abandoned houses are currently sited is really a desperate attempt to address a desperate situation.
Its not a long street, so that land is ideal to address both ends of the street. It’s close enough for people with minor disabilities.
If you are referring to my idea of waiting bays at the Pulau Tikus Market.. I believe many of the cars causing congestion coz they are dropping off or picking up people are those who will be heading home after dropping off / picking up and so won’t be parking and won’t have use for valet parking.
I’m sure valet parking will be useful in some places tho. Since Penangites are too lazy to walk if parking is too far!
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Regarding Jln Pasar, normally the first row on the left handside are parked by the traders and some at the opposite side near the rubbish bin. The 2nd row of parking are normally parked by those illegal trader (traders outside the market, they trade there unitil we do not have place to parked our motorbike). Your suggestion are good but if there are no enforcement, then it will back to square one. Like what Sunny says “If we have problem issuing tickets to illegally parked cars, there is no hope that clamping will be the solution”. But for this case, let us put in some hope and wish that this new team could solve the traffic problem around this place.
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Valet parking can also be privatised to the resident associations of the particular locality. The money collected can be used to upgrade whatever infrastructures that are needed in that areas. The service charges of valet parking may be higher but the service render will be worth for customers to pay for.
Only this type of self-sustained activities can ensure the smooth flow of our traffic without too much intervention from the authorities.
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Senior citizens and disable persons can benefited tremendously from valet parking; a special rate can be given. Other strong and health citizens will have to bear the social responsibility by paying more for the valet services. Those who refuse to use the valet parking, they have the option of parking their cars by themselves and walk the distance. No tow truck, tyre-clamping, or police is needed. All those are brain-dead ideas from the previous state government, why bother to continue what KTK has left-off.
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PTC only need to identify and designate the stretch of road as valet parking areas. Draw up a plan on the service rate and guideline for privatising the services.
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If you need an example of valet parking, go to jln Imbi in KL, you can see how the initiative is done by a private restaurant to solve the illegal parking problem.
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Penang Forum is an initiative of a group of busybody NGOs. If the state government is serious in public participation and consultation, the role of moderator can be assinged to Penang Forum. Using the blog of Penang Forum to initiate any issue that need public participation and consultation will be a very cost effective and efficient solution.
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Soo Huey, please stand as a candidate in the next General Elections with the primary theme “Resolving Penang’s traffic problems” and see how many people would vote for you. Perhaps the Dr Lim and Dr Chong could also stand for elections with the same theme too.
Then you can clear the junctions of Jones Road, Bangkok Lane, etc…
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If there are local council elections, I will run.
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Agree with Ong Eu Soon that most of these people are busy bodies, most probably retirees with nothing better to do. If they stay at home, the wife would nag them, the kids would avoid them, so they just hang around in clubs to create trouble or attending such forums. Let the government and MPPP and police handle, they have plenty of resources.
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First of all, I would congratulate the PTC for convening this meeting with the stakeholders to seek their opinion and ideas although the YBs should have shown better commitment for being punctual.
I travel Pulau Tikus almost every day since I’m living in Tg Bungah. I agree with Soo Huey’s “Why it will “work” and then won’t work”; also SHTan’s reply that “the pathetic excuses given by the Traffic chief that they cannot issue summonses for waiting and obstructing traffic”. What is the point of the traffic signs when enforcement is not possible?
This problem of congestion has been there for years and it appears that the short-parking or waiting has become an acceptable practice to many. It is such inconsiderate habits by many that add up to the congestion. The soft approach will no longer work to rid such poor habit.
May I suggest a video camera with a time recording feature be installed along the stretch of road that is capable of capturing the vehicle parking or waiting. The police or council then can book the offender using the images. Of course, we have to put in the necessary enactments to legalise the system. If there is a will to really solve this problem once and for all, then excuses will not be given that this cannot be done.
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Polis matters are all linked to Gerakan as they are part of BN Government. dammn the inaction of UMNo/Gerakan because they wanted to make the Polis happy…. So Who is really to blame? All the talk but cannot see the rafters in the eyes but can see the needles in the State Government. Blind men leads blind men/women. Guys just cannot differentiate, local, state and Federal depts.
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Why do you need a big establishment to run a valet service? A few runners with motorbikes will do the job. Cars can be parked at nearby parking space. Valet parking service is a very common solution for narrow roads in big cities of western countries. The main purpose is to get rid of cars that stop at the road side. That is how you can ensure smooth traffic flow. The simple hawkers only want the convenient of parking their vehicles, either the authorities entertain their request and end up with traffic jam, or figure out a better solution to solve this type of problem. The main road in front of the police station is one of the areas where valet parking should be introduced.
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