Some thoughts on coming home part 2

Please read : Some thoughts on coming home  before reading this

One of the things that strike me was the relatively jam-free roads in Auckland, even in the CBD. This could be partly because of the cool weather there-people can walk longer distance in cool weather than the hot and humid weather here-  but it is also because of the efficient public transport system.

Like many cities in developed countries, there is a free looping bus in the Central BUsiness District in Auckland. I have taken some photographs of this free bus and I myself have tried this free bus. The bus is very clean, seats are comfortable, the driver was very helpful and knowledgable.

 The round circle seen on tha back and side of the bus represents the loop of CBD that the bus passes through.

Since University of AUckland is right in the CBD , university students and  tourists alike can use this looping free bus to travel around the campus and the CBD.

In 2003, I submitted a detailed proposal on Kuala Lumpur 2020 Structural plan (the whole paper can be found in one of the pages under the masthead of this blog under the title of Kuala Lumpur towards a world class city)). In the proposal, I wrote about transport and this was what i wrote about transport:   

               2.4 Public Transport & City Traffic

         A world-class city must have a good and efficient public transport system. To achieve this, we recommend that:

            • City Hall gives figures on “average travel time” from suburban locations to city center at fixed interval e.g. yearly basis. This indicator will help the planners and city folks to gauge the efficiency of our traffic system and public transport.

            • There must be a good integration of the public transport and feeder services

            • There must be ample parking spaces at certain strategically located mass transit stations to enable the people to park and ride

            • There should be a free looping bus system in the inner core city

                       • For certain areas with congested space and small access roads, a feeder system using smaller should   be encouraged      

            • Licensing of public transport should not be monopolized. Monopoly begets inefficiency.

            • Efforts be made to encourage people to use public transport

 

  I mentioned then about the need of having a free looping bus service in the CBD of Kuala Lumpur. In Auckland, a free bus will depart every 10  minutes, and the same can be applied to Kuala Lumpur . Another city which would benefit from a free looping bus service in CBD is Penang, where the transport system really needs to be improved, especially now that the monorail project for Penang has been cancelled.  The budget for a free bus looping service can be easily raised through better planning and cutting down on wastages.

 

Many cities have this type of free bus services, one of which is Toronto, where my eldest son graduated. The city has a rapid transit system (like the MRT of Singapore) which is very efficient and goes underground in the city centre . There is  a feeder bus service , which is free, right from the undergorund station in the city centre and goes up above ground to loop round the CBD including part of the China town.

 

Malaysia has plenty of resources. If we can cut dwon on our operating expenditure- budget 2009 has a record operating expenditure of 154.2 billion RM, about double what it was just 4 years ago-  we could have easily funded this type of services. It would have save millions of dollars on fuel cost for residents and reduce pollution in the city centre. It is also much cheaper than building a LRT system.

 

Another aspect which we can copy is of course the clean and well maintained toilets. The public toilets off Queenstreet was clean and pleasant to use. The signage is big and cannot be missed.

 

 

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A digression from socio-political blogging. 

 

A blogger mate , Justin , mentioned about the beautiful roses in NZ. In fact, roses in most temperate countries are big and beautiful during spring time. I was lucky that my visit coincided with the annual 2-day Parnel Rose Festival, which I read about in a tourist booklet I obtained at the Airport. Being a nature lover who likes plants , flowers and animals, I took a Link bus to go there . Wow, the roses are really beautiful and some as big as my face.

 

I will post some of the beautiful pictures of roses to share with those who love roses. I will also put soem of the other picures of beautiful flowers in my Flickr folder for readers to view.