From what I hear, a Penang transport masterplan is in the pipeline, with the state government believed to be working now on the terms of reference.
Once the TOR are finalised, an open tender is likely be held, perhaps in the second quarter of 2010, for the actual work of formulating the masterplan, which could take about a year to complete.
The emphasis of the plan is likely to be on sustainable transport. I hope the masterplan will try and wean people away from private vehicle ownership and encourage them to switch to public transport. In line with this, the focus of new infrastructure spending should be on public transport and pedestrian networks (and perhaps even cycling facilities) rather than new highways. The masterplan should also try and maximise the potential of water-based transport in the state.
This would be a golden opportunity for the Penang state government to do something quite different from the rest of Malaysia. Transport is a big issue in Penang, with many expressing frustration with traffic jams during school and public holidays.
If the state government can get this right and come up with a viable sustainable transport masterplan, it would enhance Penang’s green credentials and help us reduce our carbon footprint.
The big question now is, would the Penang Outer Ring Road and other new highways be part of the masterplan, or can we think of more sustainable alternatives? These alternative could perhaps involve the greater use of buses (bus rapid transit?) or other alternatives that are cost-effective and more environmentally friendly, with seamless integration between various modes of transports.
We need to be creative and think of alternatives, bearing in mind the need to curb the increasing congestion in the state (more highways, which assume higher private vehicle ownership, would contribute to congestion), the declining global and domestic supply of oil (which will lead to higher oil prices in the future), and rising greenhouse gas emissions (that is causing climate chaos).
Combined with other initiatives such as campaigns to reduce the use of plastic bags and to promote the use of biodegradable food containers for Thaipusam and other festivals (and next, how about a campaign to improve our food security and self-sufficiency and to go into renewable energy in a big way?), Penang could really lead the rest of the country and even the region as a centre for green, sustainable initiatives.
If we go down this road, then we could put ourselves on the regional map as a showcase of what is possible in terms of sustainable development, much like how it has put the spotlight on the Brazilian city of Curitiba in South America.
Not only would we be enhancing the quality of life of Penangites, we would also be doing our bit to save the planet. Now that would be something to be proud of.
Proton and Perodua will be going out of business if public transport is so efficient. No need for private cars for the majority. By the way, now is the harvesting time for all slogans that were shouted, trips to police station, and endless empty promises.
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Gerakan,
Have you ever heard of Park & Ride Scheme?
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In 10 to 15 years, the petrol price will be many times what we are paying now. Driving a car will become super luxury.
If we don’t have any comprehensive tranport network. the economic of penang will be fallen behind.
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Yahoo, Anil, thks for the great news !!!
I will be the first one to sell my car…
Actually, it has been in my mind wanted to treat you, Anil, minum kopi di Coffee Bean, Bellisa Row, even though sometimes i really dislike your habit of censorship… Anyway, am in KL at this moment…
The truth is, i always admire and appreciate your work, your blog…
I must say, you are a very good blogger, a very professional one !!!
God bless you and family always !!!
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Haha Kee, thanks for the kind words.
I don’t like censoring or editing either either; I try to keep it to a minimum – by only removing obscenities and personal insults (such as likening someone to an animal) and racial remarks, for instance. It’s a family-friendly blog! I also edit a little to avoid libel and defamation issues.
But it’s fine to ‘whack’ me or to be critical and disagree.
Anil
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Yo Gerakan K, ever heard of opportunity cost? Ever heard of creating ‘more winners than losers’?
If you’re talking about Perodua and Proton going out of business, you’re talking in the wrong perspective. We’re only talking about Penang.
Perodua and Proton sell their cars all over the country, not just Penang ok?
Besides, even with the efficient public transport, many people would already by now have bought Myvi. It’s just a matter of using Myvi, or do they want public transport for a change? Think about the benefits.
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The Penang government should move away from traditional transport planning which involves traffic engineers doing their fine analysis and mathematical models. The usual result of such transport planning is expansion of capacities.
They should do contemporary transport planning where the focus is on access and TDM – Transport demand planning. In this modern planning, the focus is on access and transit and discouraging use of personal vehicles.
Imagine what the second bridge will do for us, it will bring in more traffic and density thus congesting the already overloaded transport infrastructure. Instead if the money on the second bridge was used on infrastructure that increases transit such as LRT, Buses, etc to connect the different areas of the Island of Penang and to the mainland, it will do a ton of good. Alternate transit and transport strategy should focus on encouraging people to use transits and other modes such as walking, cycling, car pooling etc for which there should be some infrastructure improvements as well as public awareness. Other strategies could be making priority lanes for buses and other mass transit vehicles, alternate work schedules, enhance pedestrian areas (no vehicles allowed), modern mass parking solutions, cordon pricing (means if you go to congested area without 4 passengers, you pay a fee like Singapore, Norway, London, etc), ITS (information technologies) etc etc.
I can carry on but it will become boring, but these are the type of small interventions required to create massive improvements in traffic. Having said this, the most important would be to improve transit and cater to park N ride facilities. I will stop now but if anyone wants to read more, go to this site, it gives you all you need to know and it is comprehensive. It is from Victoria Transport Institute.(It is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems)
http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/index.php
or
http://www.vtpi.org/
I hope this helps interested people in getting a better insight into better transportation possibilities and solutions
Note on TDM (For better understanding)
TDM is a Systems Management approach that further recognizes the current constraints to transportation planning (costs of projects, funding availability, sunk costs).
Advantages
- Emphasizes increased system efficiency;
1) reduce demand
2) redirect demand
3) expand capacity through minor improvements
4) increase occupancy
- Looks even further to nontraditional supply approaches
- New financial strategies (impact fees,development fees)
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Really good news. Public transport is critical in the major cities and it’s wonderful to see the state govts of Selangor and Penang address these issues.
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support for ahmad syafiq and anil netto…
and to gerakan K… malaysia can still continue to produce cars but don’t market us such low quality at twice of that a quality car’s “original” price… japan and south korea produces most of the cars in Asia but seriously how many of its local are actually buying it in their own country’s big cities ???
plus Penang is a very established highly-concentrated urban area… public transportation are way more efficient than private transportation… hei, think of it rather than spending heavy taxes to subsidies petrol for some >2.0 litres (and also non-Malaysian but come all the way to Malaysia to pump petrol) cars, might as well put it to good use of the poorer public…
im actually looking forward to the masterplan… it would be better if the public can somehow participate in the planning in giving ideas and comments for some minor adjustments before being implemented… afterall, the users are the general public, not only the planners right ???
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Certainly good news, Anil!! I’ve always been dreaming of being able to cycle safely around Penang. i don’t in reality because it isn’t safe. Cycling is more healthy, keeps us in shape and eco-friendly. This news is like winning the lottery, what are we going to do with the money?
BUT we have to be realistic and understand that it won’t happen overnight. Firstly, who’s going to finance this transport project? Should we suggest that multi-national companies that want to invest in Penang put their investment into green technology and development instead of leaving it all to the State government? This might lessen or avoid conflicts of interests and make green development more profitable, as a carrot for becoming more eco-friendly.
We should also remember the ELDERLY AND DISABLED and create an environment to improve their quality and standard of living. Many elderly people rely on public transport and like to move around, and the disabled have the right to live like normal human beings and be independent of others as far as possible.
Campaigns on improving the public transport system in Penang already began around 2005/06 by the CEPAT coalition, but seems to have gone quiet with frustration and apparent stone-walling by first, the BN State govt. then the PR State govt. to some extent. Yet, other campaigns like anti-PGCC and now anti-PICC are on-going. So, folks, please support them if you want to make Penang a better place.
Also, support the TBRA against hill-slope building that may endanger the lives of people living in that area of Tanjung Bungah, they desperately need a re-think of those building projects there. That’s another issue to be considered.
Hopefully, this good news will be a development in the right direction and will to some extent change the concept of what development should be. Development and progress should give us a better quality and standard of living, not put us under stress and erode our health and erase basic rights particularly of disadvantaged groups of people.
Hidup Rakyat!!
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I went to several countries (Singapore, United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and enjoyed taking their mass rapid transit system and other public transportations. It was convenient. We may still own a private car but we can use less petrol and pro-long the service period. The private car can be used for personal travel outstation to other more remote places. If the local car industry is scared of losing business, have you wonder why it was never a problem for S’pore, USA, Hong Kong and Taiwan. So, we should look at how other countries’ transporation policies. We should learn the smart way of doing thing from others. They may not be perfect in implementation their policies but right now, they are much better than us definitely.
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firstly, i was instantly impressed by your caption from Amos.
Now to my question..with all the talk about transparency, i’ve had a really hard time finding out where to find the “masterplan”, especially on the road network in penang. I live in BM and it has the highest concentration of flyovers being built due to the double tracking and nobody seems to know the new road alignments.
Same goes with the connecting network of roads to the 2nd link.
Any advise on where i can get a peek on all these secrets?
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Those flyovers sound horrendous!
Well the ‘Masterplan’ is still being prepared by consultants from Halcrow and they should have a draft ready sometimes towards the end of the year or early next year, which hopefully they will exhibit for extensive public feedback.
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