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08-10-2013, 05:30 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
EVEN though most of the infrastructure plans outlined in the latest Land Transport Masterplan were announced in the run-up to the Punggol by-election in January, the document is admirable for the way it maps out methodically what Singapore needs to do to keep its population moving up to 2030.
But a masterplan requires more than just hardware. It needs to spell out more qualitative targets, rather than focus on quantitative ones such as the length of rail network and number of buses. It needs to get to the crux of what leaves commuters satisfied: service quality.
While the plan spells out issues such as service frequency and reliability, as well as walking distance to and from a train station or bus stop, the proof of the pudding goes beyond that.
There is a need to look at how crowded it can get, the quality of air-conditioning, train speed (which has been patchy of late), station dwell time, dependability of services such as lifts and escalators, and even noise level on trains.
The plan needs to deliver that lofty promise touted famously by a leading airline - "making sure you arrive in the best possible shape" - if public transport is to have any chance at all competing against the car.
Here, the goal is to make public transport a choice mode, rather than a mode of no choice.
To do that, there needs to be a slight shift away from an engineering-centric way of meeting an objective and measuring how successful we have been doing so.
Christopher Tan, ST
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?165443-Chris-Tan-Transport-Masterplan-is-lopsided-Insufficient-heartware&goto=newpost).
EVEN though most of the infrastructure plans outlined in the latest Land Transport Masterplan were announced in the run-up to the Punggol by-election in January, the document is admirable for the way it maps out methodically what Singapore needs to do to keep its population moving up to 2030.
But a masterplan requires more than just hardware. It needs to spell out more qualitative targets, rather than focus on quantitative ones such as the length of rail network and number of buses. It needs to get to the crux of what leaves commuters satisfied: service quality.
While the plan spells out issues such as service frequency and reliability, as well as walking distance to and from a train station or bus stop, the proof of the pudding goes beyond that.
There is a need to look at how crowded it can get, the quality of air-conditioning, train speed (which has been patchy of late), station dwell time, dependability of services such as lifts and escalators, and even noise level on trains.
The plan needs to deliver that lofty promise touted famously by a leading airline - "making sure you arrive in the best possible shape" - if public transport is to have any chance at all competing against the car.
Here, the goal is to make public transport a choice mode, rather than a mode of no choice.
To do that, there needs to be a slight shift away from an engineering-centric way of meeting an objective and measuring how successful we have been doing so.
Christopher Tan, ST
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?165443-Chris-Tan-Transport-Masterplan-is-lopsided-Insufficient-heartware&goto=newpost).