When a person travels to another country, the traveller has to go through immigration checks. The purpose is to ensure that undesirable people are not allowed into the country. Is this a good way to carry out the task? Is it producing any beneficial results?

This approach of immigration control seems to be adding a lot of inconvenience to ordinary people and is probably not achieving its purpose.

Here are the practical problems:

1. We know only of some undesirable people, but not the others
2. The undesirable people can travel on a false passport
3. There are other ways of entering a country illegally.
4. The undesirable people need to live somewhere, so they are allowed free movement in their own country anyway.

I wonder if there can be a re-think of the entire approach of immigration control?

I took a flight to Phnom Penh. I was surprised to see a long queue at the Silk Air counter. It seems that during the economic crisis, more people are travelling by budget airlines.

Bus arrival information

I suggested that technology should be used to tell commutters about the service numbers of the approaching bus. My proposal uses low cost technology to provide a useful service to the public.

I found that a high cost technology was already used in some bus stops. At the bus stop outside of the History Museum in Stamford Road, there was a large display showing the arrival time of all the bus services.

I watched the arrival time of my service. It showed 20 minutes. This was not helpful. After waiting for 13 minutes, the display showed the arrival time to be 7 minutes. But the bus arrived, 7 minuates ahead of the display.

To provide this type of information, it is necessary to use high cost technology to monitor the position of each bus and to calculate the time to reach each bus stop.
The irony - in spite of spending so much money, the informatin is inaccurate!

I hope that our leaders in Singapore realise that spending more money does not mean getting better results. It is better to use low cost technolgy. I hope that this feebdack is given to the people in charge at our Ministry of Transport!

Tan Kin Lian

Use technology to improve bus information

Some people, especially the elderly, have poor eyesight. They may not be able to see the service number of the bus that is approaching the bus stop, until the bus is close by. By that time, it may be too late to signal for the bus to stop. The passenger will also have to strain the eyes to look out for the number of all the approaching buses.

I suggest that we use technology to solve this problem. The approaching bus can transmit its service number electronically to a display located at the bus stop. This display can display not only the bus number but also the main rout and destination of the bus. It will be a good service to the passengers and may encourage more people to take the bus.

I hope that the bus operators will take up this suggestion. Perhaps the Land Transport Authority can provide the encouragement by paying for the infrastructure cost.

Tan Kin Lian

Student ask about ERP and recession

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am a business student. I like to ask you. Why during this recession time government of Singapore increase ERP, and even increasing up to 5 gantries on the main district? What are the negative effects?

REPLY
Please send your enquiry to the Minister of Transport.

Singapore likes ERP in Dubai

My friend, a Singaporean, worked in Dubai. I visited him recently. He said that Dubai introduced the ERP and there is now less congestion on the road. He does not mind paying ERP as it helps him to reach home faster. He thinks that this is a good idea. 

Too many cars

There are too many cars parked on the roads in many private housing estates. The owners of each house have two or more cars. As the house usually accommodate only one car, the additional cars are parked on the road, causing congestion and difficult for other cars to drive through.

There are too many cars in Singapore. This is due to the inadequate service to link the private housing estates to the MRT station or bus interchange.

I hope that the local services can be improved. These local services will serve an area within the same town. The Land Transport Authority should encourage the small operators to provide a feeder bus service or a shared taxi service, for $1.50 per trip, to bring people within the same town.

This will encourage people to use the feeder services,  instead of buying an additional car.

Central Expressway

I find the traffic flow in the Central Expressway to be quite smooth on most days. I avoid the extremely busy hours (where the ERP charges are high). On other times, the flow is smooth. 

I find the electronic display to be useful, as it tells me the exact charge and the period that the rate applies. This allows me to decide on the best time to travel, to reduce the ERP charges.

It is time to show appreciation to the Land Transport Authority.

Advertising messages

There are too much advertising messages on buses, trains and stations. The transport operators wish to increase their advertising revenue, but they forget that their customers need information to use their service. 

For example, I find it difficult to get information about the train service in the MRT stations, due to the distraction from the advertisements. I like the bus to tell me which are the main roads for their service, but I get more advertisements.

I hope that the authority restrict the advertisements and require the transport operators to provide information relevant to the service.  We have to get away from the over-commercialised world.

Pay ERP by the day

A reader commented in the Straits Times Forum that some lorries have to stopped studdenly before entering the ERP as they did not have sufficient money in the cash card. He suggested that the driver should be allowed to pay the ERP within the same day. This is practiced in London.

I agree with this suggsetion. There is already a scheme to allow the ERP to be paid through credit card, but this requires the owner to register for the scheme in advance. It does not help the cases where the cash runs out unexpectedly, or where the cash card does not work.

We need three ways for people to pay the ERP charges:

1.  Cash card - which is now commonly used

2. Credit card - for monthly billing

3. Pay within the day - where the cash card runs out of money

Long taxi queues at Changi Airports

I saw a long taxi queue at Changi Airport. Someone said that it streched for 2 kms. There must be at least 100 taxis waiting for 1 hour or longer to pickup a passenger.

This seems to be a waster of resources. The taxis can be put to better use to carry passengers who need the taxi service. There must be something wrong with our fare structure.

My wish to improve the bus service

I had to take a bus from Chijmes to Bugis Junction. I wanted at the bus stop and waved down the number of my bus. It did not stop. Another passenger told me that I had to go to another bus stop.

I had to walk up to two bus stops along Victoria Street to get to the right stop. It was a long walk. If I went the other direction, it would be shorter (but there was no sign).

It will be better for each bus stop to show a map of the locality. It will show all the major buildings, roads, bus stops and service numbers. It will also give some indication of walking distance.

The Land Transport Authority has, so far, refused to take my suggestions to show the locality map. They prefer to show an index of roads. Maybe, they should have both.

I found that there were 10 bus services travelling along Victoria Street to my destination. It was difficult to remember all the numbers. I had to write it down. 

I prefer a system of local bus. There should be only 1 bus travelling down each major road. I do not mind changing to another bus to take me to the next stretch. 

The current bus system is complicated. Each passenger has to carry a bus guide.

Light bus or taxi service to serve a town

I visited AMK Hub to buy some accessories for my home. Although it is a working day, the car park is full and there is a long queue of cars trying to get into the mall. I decided to keep the mall.

It does not make sense to drive a car, due to the high ERP and parking charges and difficulty to get a parking space. 

I hope that there is a light bus or taxi service that provides a low cost service for a local town and allows people to move around easily. The waiting time should be less than 5 minutes. This will be more convenient than driving. It will reduce congestion and lack of parking space. 

Long taxi queue at Changi Airport

There was a queue of 100 taxis at Changi Airport. It extends for perhaps 1/2 or 1 kilometer. Is this wasteful? Surely the taxis could have been put to better use to take passengers around Singapore, rather than wait in the queue. 

Things does not seem to be right in Singapore. We appear to have wasteful practices. I hope that this type of inefficiency can be corrected.

Metal detector at Changi Airport

For several years, I have found the security check in Changi Airport to be ridiculous. To avoid the beep as I walked through the metal detector, I remove my key chain, belt, pen, coins and other objets . The detector still beeped, requiring a body frisk.

I did not have to go through this situation in most other airports. Changi Airport seems to be the exception. I have given several feedback, but it went unheeded.

To my great surprise today, the detector did not beep, although I had my pen, belt, coins and key inside my pocket. Has Changi Airport finally acted, after a few years, and changed the sensitivity of the detector? I have to try a few more occasions to be sure.

Perhaps, other travellers can share their experience?

No need to use the horn

I was turning left from Draycott Drive to Steven Road. The car in front made a sharp turn into my path. I had to apply the brake to avoid a collision. I did not use my horn - unlike most other drivers in Singapore.

The car had to make the turn to avoid collision with another car. He might have been somewhat careless, but sounding the horn will not make any difference - other than to add to the stress that the driver had gone through.

Singapore drivers like to use the horn to express their anger. There is no need to.
On other occasions, the horn is used to stop the car in front from moving into one's lane. How selfish of the driver behind.

In many countries, the horn is used to tell the driver in front that is is all right to move into the lane, as the driver at the back is aware about the intention. This is a considerate behavior.

Feeder bus service

Summary of 30 replies.

1. What is your primary form of transport?

Train 65.4%
Bus 19.2%
Car 15.4%

2. Which system of bus service do you prefer?

Feeder service 36.0%
More direct bus service (but wait longer) 64.0%

3. Which type of feeder service do you prefer?

Big bus, longer wait, lower fare 36.0%
Light bus, shorter wait, higher fare 64.0%

4. Which system do you prefer to pick up and drop passengers, but only along the designated route

Only at designated stops 36.0%
Pick up at designed stops, drop anywhere 24.0%
Pick up anywhere, drop at designated stops 8.0%
Can pick up and drop passengers anywhere 32.0%

Feeder bus

Join this survey:
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Trains are now less crowded

I was surprised that the trains were less crowded in December. Here are some possible reasons:

> Less people in Singapore during the December holidays

> Economic slowdown

> More trains operated by SMRT

What is the main reason?

Marina South

Marina South is the new CBD. There is an excellent opportunity to plan a light rail system or a personal rapid transit system at this early stage. This is the transport of the city of the future. We should avoid building roads for cars in the new CBD.