Dear govt, the road to Singapore is blocked by cars, never-ending jams
Chennai Is Singapore Of The 90s, Govt Must Better Public Transport To Bridge The Gulf, Say Experts
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com 15.10.2019
On Sunday, deputy chief minister told a gathering, “Tamil Nadu will be transformed into Singapore in the next two years.” While OPS did not say why and how he wants to transform the state into Singapore, a discussion in the city on Monday laid bare the ground reality — Chennai has a long way to go to match Singapore’s infrastructure (not that we ought to ape the city state).
While none knows the future, Chennai’s present is similar to Singapore’s past in some ways. When it comes to public transport, Chennai is Singapore of the 1990s. Number of buses available per lakh people (35:1), accident casualties (8-12 per 1,00,000 population) and train network (230km) are almost similar to what were prevalent in Singapore in 1995, the year in which its Land Transport Authority (LTA) was founded. To avoid confusion, different government agencies dealing with transport were integrated to form LTA. From laying roads to operating buses and trains, LTA calls the shots.
Tamil Nadu too tried to do the same by forming Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). But after a 10-year delay, it is yet to convene its first meeting.
LTA was instrumental is strengthening public transportation and reduce use of cars, said Gopinath Menon, its former chief who was at a meeting organised by Institute for Transportation and Developmental Planning (ITDP). One of the key reforms strictly implemented by LTA was paid parking for cars.
Shreya Gadepalli of ITDP said no private car can be parked for free off the streets and average parking fee per hour in Singapore was Rs
150. In Chennai, nearly 8% of the total land is used for parking and most of it is free. This might change with Greater Chennai Corporation planning to set up a city-wide parking management system involving 12,000 slots. A pilot project will be implemented in Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam and T Nagar soon.
To deter people from using cars, LTA put a cap on the number of private cars. People in Singapore pay Rs 15 lakh or more to buy a purchase entitlement certificate. This, along with insurance, taxes and the car’s original price, makes a car an expensive affair. On the contrary, only road tax is collected in Chennai, once in 15 years. Menon said to make such restrictions work, “an accessible, affordable and quick public transportation system was necessary”.
Chennai has one of the best bus networks in the country. More than 35 lakh people travel in 3,400 MTC buses every day. But Singapore has 5,800 buses for almost half the population. To match that ratio, Chennai needs 9,000 more buses. Also, common ticketing system with rebates, which acted as game changer for LTA, is a distant dream for Chennaites as local agencies bicker.
Menon said funds collected from from private car owners as taxes, parking fee and congestion fees can be used to expand the bus fleet. Every year, Singapore collects 5 billion dollars through sale of purchase certificates. Of this, one billion dollars are more than enough to maintain the operational cost of buses. Something similar can be followed here, he said.
“This coupled with effective enforcement and education make the public transportation system robust. Fines will not reduce accidents. We used a series of committee outreach programmes with the help of grassroots level organisations to interact with the public,” he said.
A senior transport department official said Chennai had various levels of governance unlike just one in Singapore. “So it takes a lot of time and coordination to bring in any change,” he said.
A CRAWL: Number of cars on the roads needs to be restricted, say experts
Chennai Is Singapore Of The 90s, Govt Must Better Public Transport To Bridge The Gulf, Say Experts
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com 15.10.2019
On Sunday, deputy chief minister told a gathering, “Tamil Nadu will be transformed into Singapore in the next two years.” While OPS did not say why and how he wants to transform the state into Singapore, a discussion in the city on Monday laid bare the ground reality — Chennai has a long way to go to match Singapore’s infrastructure (not that we ought to ape the city state).
While none knows the future, Chennai’s present is similar to Singapore’s past in some ways. When it comes to public transport, Chennai is Singapore of the 1990s. Number of buses available per lakh people (35:1), accident casualties (8-12 per 1,00,000 population) and train network (230km) are almost similar to what were prevalent in Singapore in 1995, the year in which its Land Transport Authority (LTA) was founded. To avoid confusion, different government agencies dealing with transport were integrated to form LTA. From laying roads to operating buses and trains, LTA calls the shots.
Tamil Nadu too tried to do the same by forming Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). But after a 10-year delay, it is yet to convene its first meeting.
LTA was instrumental is strengthening public transportation and reduce use of cars, said Gopinath Menon, its former chief who was at a meeting organised by Institute for Transportation and Developmental Planning (ITDP). One of the key reforms strictly implemented by LTA was paid parking for cars.
Shreya Gadepalli of ITDP said no private car can be parked for free off the streets and average parking fee per hour in Singapore was Rs
150. In Chennai, nearly 8% of the total land is used for parking and most of it is free. This might change with Greater Chennai Corporation planning to set up a city-wide parking management system involving 12,000 slots. A pilot project will be implemented in Anna Nagar, Purasawalkam and T Nagar soon.
To deter people from using cars, LTA put a cap on the number of private cars. People in Singapore pay Rs 15 lakh or more to buy a purchase entitlement certificate. This, along with insurance, taxes and the car’s original price, makes a car an expensive affair. On the contrary, only road tax is collected in Chennai, once in 15 years. Menon said to make such restrictions work, “an accessible, affordable and quick public transportation system was necessary”.
Chennai has one of the best bus networks in the country. More than 35 lakh people travel in 3,400 MTC buses every day. But Singapore has 5,800 buses for almost half the population. To match that ratio, Chennai needs 9,000 more buses. Also, common ticketing system with rebates, which acted as game changer for LTA, is a distant dream for Chennaites as local agencies bicker.
Menon said funds collected from from private car owners as taxes, parking fee and congestion fees can be used to expand the bus fleet. Every year, Singapore collects 5 billion dollars through sale of purchase certificates. Of this, one billion dollars are more than enough to maintain the operational cost of buses. Something similar can be followed here, he said.
“This coupled with effective enforcement and education make the public transportation system robust. Fines will not reduce accidents. We used a series of committee outreach programmes with the help of grassroots level organisations to interact with the public,” he said.
A senior transport department official said Chennai had various levels of governance unlike just one in Singapore. “So it takes a lot of time and coordination to bring in any change,” he said.
A CRAWL: Number of cars on the roads needs to be restricted, say experts
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