From: Chris Lee Chun Kit, via email
Malaysia is ranked 3rd for highest car ownership in the world in a research by Nielsen. Whether one is proud of it or not, car ownership will continue to rise in Malaysia as stated in Nielsen’s report, especially in SEA region, intention for car ownership and upgrading (once financial means allows) is high.
This points to the fact that affluence is a big factor in influencing growth in car ownership. The second factor is the National Automotive Policy 2016 outlining our automotive policy till 2030, where the Malaysian Automotive Institute aims to boost EEV production to 85% by 2020 and more production means more cars, right?
Does this mean car ownership on the national level will go down? Of course not, now unless the Federal Government puts the brakes on the car manufacturing industry or severely raises the taxes for car ownership or impose congestion pricing, this trend will continue. Penang is not an independent state like Singapore that can restrict the inflow of cars from its borders, Penang is a part of Malaysia and cars from other states and neighbouring countries will be flowing in, who will be the ones who suffer then?
Speaking of Singapore, the point is not about the city state having a lower per capita supply of highways compared with Penang (yet Penang is building even more highways). It is about the fact that despite Singapore having achieved a 60% public transport modal share, Singapore is still building more highways.
Why isn’t Singapore going cold turkey and pushing for 100% public transport modal share? The answer is simple and is that having an efficient and complete road-highway infrastructure (for traffic dispersal) welcomes and supports whatever the future holds for the fast evolving automobile industry and that the road-highway system is the basis of a country or state’s economy.
Cripple the roads and highways, the economy grinds to a halt, fine for those who are well off and can just criticise from the comforts of their own homes but what about those who need to earn a living here?
The highways proposed in PTMP bypasses that aim to critically diffuse regional from local traffic, thereby imbuing existing roads and highway networks with the proper hierarchy that it sorely lacks.
Perhaps it would do Lim Mah Hui (More highways or good public transport, FMT Nov 11) much good to examine the present highway system in Penang to appreciate its present deficiency. Furthermore, Halcrow in its strategy report stated that road traffic performance will be improved with the recommendations made for highway improvements based on the highways proposed. Not to mention, the window of opportunity from being able to efficiently cater for future goods and private vehicle activity from these new highways in PTMP affords the State more time to focus on more investments in public transport, not just infrastructure but also innovative policies and measures to control private vehicular growth.
I am sure the Penang State Government is and will look into more public transport-friendly policies to encourage public adoption as the 1st elevated LRT line is now being pursued closely with the Federal Government.
The key is not to stop after building the highways but the relief gives the state the chance to invest in more rail public transport such as more elevated LRT lines to “catch up” and win a bigger margin of modal share.
One can say that achieving a 40% public transport modal share for Penang by 2030 could be a little high, but it is not impossible with the right policies in place. But the Penang State Government can only start to encourage public transport usage, after the public transport infrastructure is in place, not before.
A study can be based on many other cities but they are past experiences which do not take into account changing trends of an ever changing world and should not be treated as the infallible truth. Are any master plans perfect? No, constructive criticisms are welcomed but only concrete plans can be considered for implementation. Have Lim or the Penang Forum ever come up with any credible or implementable alternative plans?
As recently as 5 years ago, no one had even heard of Uber but it has changed the face of public transport and placed the “shared economy” concept in the mainstream (unexpected disruptions once again), who knows what might happen in 10 years with public transport?
Highways are not the only solution that we are proposing but highways can relieve the current traffic problems Penang is facing today before the elevated LRT comes in, and even more lines are that.
Chris Lee Chun Kit represent the DAP on the Penang Island City Council.
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