Public Transport (T.O.B)

I read a local English newspaper recently that the number of ridership for our public transports have increased in the past year. Though the figures were not that impressive, at least it's a start. So, how do you increase the number of commuters? I have a few suggestions:

1. Increase capacity. The number of coaches and buses should be increase to accommodate more people. More buses means more routes and more importantly more frequencies.
2. Create more car parks at rail stations and transport hub. People need to be able to easily access and park their car at the stations.
3. Provide more shaded bus stops and covered pedestrians walkway. I believe it'll do wonders to the numbers of pedestrians willing to wait for the bus if there's more cover.
4. Increase synergistic schedule by hiring good planners. It's important that timing between different services and lines (whether other bus companies or rails) be more synergistic so that more people can transfer between services at a faster rate, thus making the whole system efficient.
5. Give free public transport. I know what you're thinking, "where's the revenue going to come from to sustains the transport company?" Well, you just subsidised it. All you need to do is pull back some of the fuel subsidies. A 50% savings in fuel subsidies might translate to RM5-6 billions in savings which can be used to buy more coaches and buses, create more car parks, provide more shaded bus stops and covered pedestrians walkway, hire better planners AND give free public transportation.

And that's how suggestions no. 1 - 4 be paid by.

Public Transport (T.O.B)

I'm planning to go to office tomorrow using the bus. I try my best to get at least 2 - 3 days of commuting from home to office using public transport. This not only greatly reduce cost of transportation, but also reduces stress and more 'green' then driving my own car. But as have been mentioned so many times, by so many people, in so many mediums, that our public transportation system (especially the bus)is not really people friendly.

Take for example the bus stops, around Klang Valley. You would noticed that the bus stops consist only of a pole and a sign with a bus picture on it. Malaysia having a tropical rain forest climate(as categorised by Koppen climate classification)gets an average precipitation of around 60mm all year long will undoubtedly require a different kind of thinking when it comes to bus stops. Or it could be, that most planners for these bus stops never actually taken a ride on the bus. Which would reasonably answers a lot of questions with regards to their planning skills.

I would assume that people would prefer standing under cover while it's raining than actually stands in the middle of the rain getting soaked. It isn't that great a leap of logic to think that maybe, just maybe that a small shade over the bus stops would be of great benefits to the public. But of course, I wouldn't expect that kind of thinkings to occur with our planners, merely because whatever gray matters that is still retains within their cranium evaporate each time chemical impulse passes through it.

I Know I Sold Out

Yes, if you noticed, I put 2 Adsense to my blog. I sold out to greed and capitalism. So, sue me. What's life if not about money? or is it love? I kinda confuse sometimes with these things. Anyway, my wife and I bought ourselves a new Sony Handycam at one of those warehouse sale. It's pretty decent if I do say so myself. With the purchase, it opens up new possibilities of creative work to be done.

Anyway, met with one of my ex-office mate in Parliament today. It's nice meeting with a friendly face and not talk about work all the time. We talked about lotsa stuff among others about haiku, so here's one:

Bought a Handycam
Going to be creative
But what to do, eh?

Testing Video Posting

Here's a funny one.

An empty month

Wow!, I nearly miss a whole month of blogging. Unfortunately I have been bogged down by a lot of work and also less free time due to my volunteer work at the museum. Whatever it was, it was an interesting month. We have two street protests, a setting up of a Royal Commission, a change of government in Australia, a military president puts away his uniform, the geese are flying to the south and so much more.

What does it all mean? It means that the whole of the world move on even if I didn't write in this blog. Go figure.