Solutions

Let's examine briefly on of the most space taking issue in Singapore: Motor vehicles. Roads seems to take up the most space in Singapore, it is one of the key features of our highly urbanised nation. Most roads cannot be stacked up and that is a concern given the lack of space.

In our highly dense population, there are many cars in our country as well, this causes congestion. And in a car, if there is only 1 driver, the car takes up the most amount of space as there are 4 empty seats. Please note this is not a tree-hugging environmental post. There will be no pictures of birds soaked in oil.

Every day, almost every main roads and highways will be congested. It forces some to give up driving and take public transport but for most people, their destination is not very accessible. One thing I do not like is how charges or other fancy words is always implemented to tackle these issues.

- Too many people taking trains and causing it to over load and break down. Adjust fares (please look at SMRT's balance sheet every year)
- Car park operators deals with rising costs? Increase rates (despite making profits year on year)
- Too little taxi during peak hour? Taxi company operating costs increasing? Taxi drivers complaining lack of business? Varying percentage surcharges in place 16 hours a day on top of regular taxi fares.

Let's look at some solutions in place dealing with road congestion:
- COE:
Abstract - "Between 1975 and 1990, the growth rate of the car population was as high as 12 percent per annum before the recession of 1985. To ensure that Singapore roads would be smooth-flowing, the government undertook a combination of usage and ownership measures."
source: source article titled: Certificate of Entitlement

This system has been in place for more than 25 years now, has it worked? I would think it worked but is it natural or is it an instance of overkill where you try to shoot down  a housefly with an automatic rifle?

Year 2006 - 2007 private vehicle population increased by about 7%.
Year 2010 - 2011 private vehicle population increased by about 1.8%
Year 2015 - 2016 private vehicle population reduced by: 2.9%
Source

While on the off hand, it seemed that it worked, but the underlying problem is still persistent or else you will be driving on smoother roads.

What is happening is that despite cars population decrease, there is an increase in Rental cars population.
Year 2006 - 2007 private rental vehicle population increased by about 19%.
Year 2015 - 2016 private rental vehicle population increased by about: 74.79%

Another possible explanation for the decrease in 2015 - 2016 would be the de-registration of the 10 year old cars from 2006. The problem is only being scratched that the surface, like de-rusting without adding primers to ensure the rust problem doesn't come back.

The problems foresighted or faced back then still persists till today. If you are a patient with a doctor feeding you expensive medicine for 25 years without proper cure, will you change your doctor?

+++

ERP was another solution to tackle the congestion issues. Though started mainly in town area, it has since been planted at highway at various heartlands in Singapore, for instance, the ERP at Clementi can cost up to $3.

Now there are also developments to bill ERP using GPS and satellite. Without being fanciful, isn't that tracking your vehicle position at all times? Why is the application not used in crime fighting or tracking traffic jams from the sky?

It is true that the ERP system works to a certain extend, but it doesn't help the situation. People who need to drive into town have to consider this whereas people who are affluent would not be bothered.

To some people, when a problem can be resolved with money, then it isn't a problem anymore. The poor salesman to make ends meet has to have a car to drive around to conduct business. The rich people who drive into town to do their daily shopping can buy multiple cars just because they can. It does not stop the problem of congestion, it doesn't solve the problem. The only thing reducing the car population is that there aren't many people who can afford to own cars.

Solutions should stop the issue completely, it may not be immediate but it should stop it from recurring. The solutions are being proposed all over the internet. By strictly issuing COEs and not having people bid for it, you can properly control Vehicle population. Too many cars on the road? don't issue so much, cut down the COE payment issue. It is a mockery to be paying 3x the price of a new car as compared to other countries,

I hope the relevant authorities can look into long term solutions that resolve issues at the root cause.

Efficiency

Efficiency comparison:

"In August, the Land Transport Authority and SMRT announced plans to lower the speeds of escalators at train stations, following a recommendation, to make it safer for senior citizens.

Work began in August to modify 233 escalators in 42 of 54 stations along the North-South and East-West lines. It is due to be completed by 2021."

Quoted from: 64-year-old in coma after MRT escalator fall, published Nov 16, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT

Versus

Blink and you'll miss it: Japanese sinkhole repaired at speed – video

Think about the above, both of them are also 'public' transport. I feel that public transport should have some form of social responsibility in terms of providing service and not be profit driven nor should it be a publicly traded equity (at least it used to be, now it is privatised) 

In SMRT's defense, the escalator incident is allegedly user's unstable footing that caused the fall.

The repaired-in-48-hour-sinkhole sunken again a few days later and was repaired again.

Is Housing Expensive?

Housing is cheap, but the cost of money is expensive.

Lets look at how much you will pay (assume split half with spouse)

Take a S$300,000 HDB for example (loan amount will be S$270,000):

10 years loan:
Monthly payment: $1280
Total interest paid in 10 years: $36,910

15 years loan:
Monthly payment: $907 (-$373)
Total interest paid in 15 years: $56,352 (+$19442)

20 years loan:
Monthly payment: $722 (-$185)
Total interest paid in 20 years: $76,543 (+$20191)

25 years loan:
Monthly payment: $613 (-$109)
Total interest paid in 25 years: $97,472 (+$20929)

In short, 3 things:
1) it costs $97,472 to borrow $270,000 from HDB
2) it costs about another $127,000 to borrow the money from CPF to pay loan HDB due to accrued interest which you have to pay your own CPF
3) based on my own views and understanding, if wrong, please let me know, don't sue me.


Don't listen to people who tell you to spend all your CPF money on paying your house unless you are able to pay and still meet the minimum sum when you reach 55. Whether you can reach or not is another matter.

Done and DONE

2nd Season
My posts awhile back are quite rage-y and hate-fueled. I put this on my lack of sleep. But its mostly my nature of being a grouchy irritable guy.

Anyways, here's a restart, why?

Because I believe we in Singapore have a identity, a culture, a lifestyle. It is very derivatives, mostly from western culture (more on the culture thing later), but I hope to take the best or preferred choice for me. Sometimes I tend to do things just for the heck of it.

Somethings will be oddly racist, stereotypes exists like smoke with fire. (I personally have good friends of all races, we make jokes about each others race with respect and FOR HUMOUR ONLY)

Not hateful but I'm born bred Singaporean, I don't like it when I turn on the TV (which I hardly watch due to bad programming), some foreigner professor in local Universities will talk about Singapore. The worse is when they speak out unfavourably, or worse when they talk about sensitive subjects and when people watch it, they think these foreigners represent our views as a country.

When we watch TV, don't we tend to scoff more than agree? That's a bad sign.

Singapore Culture???
Do we really have a culture as Singaporeans?

Whatever culture means on Oxford dictionary, culture to me means whenever someone says, "That is so Singaporean", "typical Singaporean".

We derive our culture from many other cultures, it is no shame in that, it is how culture starts. Look up the origins of Christmas on google. We should extract the best or preferred ways, fuse it with a bit of Singapore flavour and we are good to go. Over time, we shall explore more on this.

People say we are a young nation, we do not have any culture or history. Damn right we don't! Neither do we have the plague or all the bad things that happen in history. We do not have the history...YET! We are literally history in the making, we all are. People who brag about their history tend to behave as if they worked hard for it or choose it. They are born into it. Nothing to be proud about. Taking pride in something and being proud about it is completely different things.


Anyhow, lets get going.