Transport key to cities' growth: minister

Business Times 5 Nov 08;

THE quality of urban transport matters greatly to a city's character, its liveability, and whether it can continue to sustain itself and grow, said Transport Minister Raymond Lim yesterday.

'Today, about half of the world's population already lives in cities,' he said, adding that a UN report forecasts that this would rise to 70 per cent in the next 40 years.

Mr Lim was speaking at the inaugural World Urban Transport Leaders Summit. The summit serves as a platform for senior government officials, professionals and academics to discuss and exchange views on urban transport policies and strategies.

Running till Thursday, the summit will include four plenary forums and policy dialogues chaired by the members of the Land Transport Authority's International Advisory Panel (IAP).

Topics include 'good governance, sustainable transport', 'managing congestion' and 'strategies for emerging cities'.

The six members of the IAP themselves are internationally recognised transport experts and practitioners from Australia, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, the US and the UK. The IAP was formed in 2007 to advise LTA on its transport policies and strategies, and help keep LTA abreast of the latest global trends and developments in land transport.

The theme of the summit is 'Transforming Urban Transport for Liveability and Sustainability'.

In his opening speech, Mr Lim also said that the UN report notes that 'in the last two decades, the urban population in developing countries has been growing by an average of three million people a week'. 'Such growth will put an unprecedented amount of pressure on urban transport systems. We need to urgently improve urban transport.'

Mr Lim called this a common challenge and said that Singapore has sought to learn from the experience of other countries when looking for transport solutions. Real-world examples were studied before the Land Transport Masterplan was unveiled earlier this year.

'Many of our technology systems in urban transport have also been developed collaboratively with other cities,' said Mr Lim, pointing to the Glide system that optimises traffic signals to smoothen traffic by creating 'green waves'.

'Such components for an Intelligent Transport System may be too challenging or expensive for any one city to take on alone,' he added.

It is understood that one such component is the Bus Priority System, which allows traffic lights to differentiate between public buses and other vehicles. Based on Australian technology, it makes use of onboard systems to relay information to a control centre in order to give signal priority to buses and allow them to travel more quickly through congestion. Singapore is expected to introduce the system next year.

After opening the World Urban Transport Leaders Summit, Mr Lim also officially opened the LTA Academy's new premises at the LTA Hampshire Road office.

The LTA Academy was established in 2006 to share Singapore's experience and expertise in land transport. It also promotes the research and exchange of best practices within the global land transport community.

During the summit, the LTA Academy also signed four international memoranda of cooperation with universities and transport institutes to develop joint programmes and research.

WORLD URBAN TRANSPORT LEADERS SUMMIT
Long-term planning key for transport system
Four core principles guide Singapore's transport planners, says LTA chief
Samuel Ee, Business Times 5 Nov 08;

TRANSPORT solutions for Singapore have to be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, and long-term planning is key.

This is one of the four core principles that has guided the Republic's transport planners, according to Yam Ah Mee, chief executive of the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

He was speaking yesterday at a plenary forum on the topic: 'Developing a sustainable, people-centred land transport system in Singapore - Principles of Governance'.

The other three principles are that a world-class transport system needs to be founded on sound, market-oriented economic solutions; constant innovation in anticipation of and in response to changing solutions; and the need to engage and consult all the people involved.

Mr Yam gave his speech during the inaugural World Urban Transport Leaders Summit, which opened yesterday.

More than 100 senior government officials, professionals and academics from 30 countries are attending the three-day summit to discuss and exchange views on urban transport policies and strategies.

The summit's theme is 'Transforming Urban Transport for Liveability and Sustainability'.

A UN commission once defined the concept of sustainability as an approach which meets the needs of the current generation without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

In his speech, Mr Yam touched on the need to protect the environment for future generations.

'Land transport has a significant role to play in contributing to a high-quality and sustainable living environment, given its impact on air quality, energy consumption, noise pollution and the urban landscape,' he said.

The transport sector is a major contributor of carbon dioxide in the environment, accounting for 19 per cent of Singapore's carbon dioxide emissions in 2005.

In that same year, the manufacturing sector was the biggest generator of carbon dioxide at 54 per cent, while buildings and households contributed 16 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

'Hence, we must consciously gear our land transport practices and policies towards supporting environmental objectives,' he said.

'This will contribute to a quality living environment for our people.'

As Singapore has limited land space - 12 per cent is allocated for roads compared with 15 per cent for housing - Mr Yam said the increase in travel demand must be met largely by public transport and the system has to cater to the diverse needs of the population.

'Transport is a basic need and we must ensure that everyone has access to it - the low-income groups, the elderly, wheelchair users, families with young children and pedestrians,' he said.

At the same time, public transport is the most efficient means of transport and the LTA will endeavour to make it a choice mode.

'A single-deck bus can carry about 80 passengers at any one time, whereas the average occupancy of our cars is about 1.5 persons per car,' said Mr Yam.

'Therefore, we need to encourage more people to use public transport to meet the 60 per cent increase in travel demand between now and 2020.' he added.

This will be done with central bus network planning for seamless journeys starting next year, the doubling of the rapid train system from the current 138 km of rail network to 278 km by 2020, and managing road usage through the vehicle quota system and electronic road pricing.

And although land is scarce, Mr Yam said that road-building will continue to cater to the heavy demand of new employment at residential centres and to enhance the connectivity of existing roads.

He said: 'A comprehensive road network is essential to sustain economic activities.'