All Rise...!

Yeah, all rise and now, we're being served with the news report of a proposal by highway concessionaires on the possible increase in toll rate. On 12 June, the news of the proposed hike was leaked out (all hail the whistle blower!), prompting Malaysia's embattled Prime Minister, Mr. Najib Razak to label the whistle blower's action as a 'betrayal of trust' (The Malay Mail | click here). Just for the record, whoever is the whistle blower, he/she should be commended for bringing to light this matter as it is obviously of interest to the public. For an Administration that claimed to be putting people's first, the act of betrayal is brazen and of highest order due to the secret nature of the proposal. Indeed, no decision has been made, however Mr. Najib Administration is clearly feeling the heat as evident in contradictory and half-baked statements coming out from Putrajaya concerning various issues of the day. I bet one day felt like a thousand years for Putrajaya folks now.

One of the prominent transport planner in the Klang Valley, whom I used to work with before, was quoted recently that "instead of paying compensation, the Government should buy over the highways" (The Star | click here). That sounds like a great idea, right? However, as much as the Government could take over the highways, it is not the Government's business of running the operation of a highway. They would screw everything up! See how 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) could chalk up RM 42,000,000,000.00 (see how much zeros this figure have!) debt within 5 years operation. Government should concentrate on its core business, which is to administer the country.

What kind of love affairs that we have when it comes to tolled highways? It is a chain of, to put it rather strongly, daylight robberies. The most critical element of planning the transportation network of a city is multi-modal connectivity. This is a fact that most planners acknowledged and feel compel to incorporate into our design. At this point, we're facing a catch 22 situation. Why? Let's for the sake of argument, introduce two groups, drivers and operators.

© Isaac Rizard Graphics 2015

On one side, drivers would demand improvement. How much improvement these drivers need? What sort of improvement they demand? Efficiency? Punctuality? Comfort? As a rule of thumb, Malaysian town planners use a walking distance of 400 metres from a transit station. Why 400 metres, only God knows because it seems that Malaysians are not even willing to walk half of that distance. Given our erratic weather at any given time of the year as it could get very hot or very 'wet', to get to the nearest transit station would be a huge challenge. And I am talking from my own experience as shown below.

© Isaac Rizard Graphics 2015

The Google Earth extract above shows the location of the nearest bus stops for Flora Damansara residences, located at Jalan PJU 8/8. There are two options for Flora Damansara residents if they choose to take a bus. However, none of the options are located with 400 metres walking distance at all as the nearest stop is located 2.2 kilometres away. Flora Damansara is a densely built low and medium cost housing area, home to approximately 21,000 people, with transient community forms the majority of residents in the area. Sadly, bus service do not ply this area and taxi drivers dreaded to venture into the neighbourhood due uneven, hilly and crampy road. Instead, the bus service covers the more affluent Damansara Perdana area, whose residents are more than happy to flash around their expensive cars than taking the bus.

In the nutshell, it is a missed opportunity and it reflects poor planning. No emphasis is given to the public transportation network. It necessitates car ownership, which is evident by the sheer number of overcrowded parking stations throughout Klang Valley. A comprehensive township planning that takes into account long term commuting needs is sorely and urgently needed. 

With improvement in the method of providing transportation services within an area, including distance from their homes, route treatment and population catchment, mobility dependency on public transportation would be increasing, thus helping to reduce the number of cars on the road and eventually, tolled highways won't be needed, at least not in the immediate future or within the existing spatial context.