- Brief Outline
Singapore as a former colony of Great Britain has struggled over the years to grow its economy and improve the quality of life of her people. One of the ways that Singapore has maintained its economy afloat is by maintaining bilateral ties with the country’s former colonizers. For any economy to flourish there has to be efficient infrastructure in place to allow the transport of goods and services across territories for trade purposes. As a developing nation Singapore has limited capital endowments. As a result of capital limitedness, Singapore continues to experiences various challenges with the transport sector. This paper discusses the transport challenges and realities in Singapore.
- Body of Paper
Singapore continues to wrestle with various challenges within the country’s transport sector. The first major problem that Singapore’s transport sector faces is overcrowding in the public transport sector. This is as a result of the high number of commuters who use public transport. Considering that Singapore is a developing country, there are many people within the country’s citizenry that cannot be able to afford their own vehicles. Low income earners in Singapore prefer to use public transport so that they can save on transport costs.
In addition, some of the people in Singapore who have the ability to purchase vehicles have over the years been concerned with the upsurge in the prices of Entitlement certificates (COEs). These certificates are required of the people who own vehicles in Singapore. In order to avoid the increasing expenses that are associated with car ownership in Singapore, some of the people in Singapore opt to use public transport as a way of commuting both for leisure and work purposes. Studies conducted in Singapore in 2011 indicate that the price of COE’s is expected to continue to rise based on the fact that the government of Singapore has put trade quotas on the importation of vehicles into Singapore. Owing to the problems that private vehicle ownership in Singapore, there is a better opportunity for the development of public transport in the country. The government of Singapore has over the years begun to execute changes in its transport infrastructure. The government has been trying to expand its transport infrastructure so as to be in a position to accommodate the growing city population in Singapore (Yuen, 2004, p.85).
Despite government effort to develop public transport in Singapore, there have been other transport challenges that have begun to face Singapore. The quality of the vehicles and machinery that is used in public transport has not been properly maintained over the years. Government controlled machinery such as trains and public vehicles have not been properly maintained. Over the last few years there have been cases whereby trains have broken down on the railway lines. This is very unfortunate because such breakdown create inconveniences among commuters who are in many cases on their way to work. The most challenging thing with train breakdowns in Singapore is not that it’s a one-time phenomenon that happens at an accident.
Instead, there has been a series of train breakdown, which indicates that there has been recklessness on the part of the government in spearheading maintenance of vessels and machinery used in Singapore’s public transport. One of the most recent maintenance issues of Singapore’s public transport is an incidence that happened in a train station in Newton, Singapore. According to the incidence a cable in one the major railway lines caught fire thereby halting all commuter activities on the railway line for a period of time. This is a clear indication that the lack of enough capital endowments by the government of Singapore has put commuters under risk due to the use of poorly maintained vessels and transport system. With the high population of commuters in Singapore, it has become difficult for people to be able to avoid public transport in the country. Despite the poor maintenance of public transport sector in Singapore there are limited alternatives for commuters in the country. Statistics conducted in Singapore indicate that the number of commuters that use public transport has tripled over the year. In addition, the number of people using public transport increases remarkably during peak hours. Peak hours in this case would refer to the time when commuters are heading for work in the morning, and when they are leaving work in the evening.
As a way of ensuring that the problem of congestion in Singapore’s public transport is addressed, the government of Singapore has put in place a few initiatives. The first thing that the government has done has been the expansions of roads and railway networks. In this way, the transport infrastructure can be able to accommodate the needs of the ever growing population of commuters in Singapore. However, the plans to expand both roads and railway line will take time. The government estimates that the plans to expand both road and railway transport in Singapore is going to take a minimum of five years (Wong, 2008, p.102). This is therefore a long term strategy to solve the problem of congestion in the public transport of Singapore.
In the meantime, the government of Singapore has also considered short-term plans to solve the problem of solving congestion in the public transport. Some of the short term plans that the government have put in place include the increasing in the number of buses in the public transport sector. The increment of the number of buses in the public transport sector reduces the amount of time that commuters wait for buses in consistent intervals. According to Singapore minister that is in charge of transport Lui Yew, the government of Singapore intends to increase the number of buses (Hanley, 2012, p.47). The government intends to purchase an additional five hundred buses. These buses are aimed to have a greater carrying capacity. In this way, more commuters can be accommodating in a single bus. In addition, government also aims at allowing more private investors in Singapore’s public transport. These private investors will act as feeders to the public sector thereby reducing the congestion and waiting time among commuters in Singapore. The expansion of rail transport is expected to increase the amount of kilometers the present length of 180 kilometers to double the distance served by the railway line. This expansion is expected to be completed in 2030. These plans to improve public transport in Singapore are meant to increase corporate confidence in investing in the country.
Improvements in Singapore’s public transport are also meant to market Singapore is a tourist destination as well as reduce transport costs for its citizenry. Reducing transport costs for Singapore’s population will reduce the cost of living in the country because the money that would be used in commuting using private transport can be used to make other investments. Therefore, despite the challenges facing public transport in Singapore there is a likelihood of a better future for the country’s transport sector.
Reference List
Hanley, R. E. (2004). Moving people, goods, and information in the 21st century the cutting-edge infrastructures of networked cities. London: Routledge.p46-49.
Wong, T. (2008). Spatial planning for a sustainable Singapore. New York: Springer.p101-104.
Yuen, B. K. (1998). Planning Singapore: from plan to implementation. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Planners.p83-85.
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