too much, too little

the moment i read that ERP was going to hit S$6 on some gantries, i could already picture in my head the hooha that would emerge, particularly from TOC, SGAG and the likes.

whenever this topic comes up during conversations, i always try to explain, what do you expect the government to do?

with COE, there is this number of cars on the road.
can we even begin to imagine how many more cars there would be if the prices of the cars were halved.
and the traffic condition then?

the fact is that Singapore is only this big, and we can only make the roads so wide with these many flyovers.
so what else can be done other than limit the number of cars?
what more efficient way to limit number of cars then through pricing?
and please la, in a country as small as Singapore, how many people can argue that cars are a necessity for them?



then on the hand, people are complaining ERP doesn't work.
if ERP isn't work, it means the fees are not at a level sufficient to deter large enough number of drivers to not use the road.
which means that the fees are being collected for nothing.
cos the traffic speed without ERP is about the same as the condition with a $0.10 ERP.


solution?
keep increasing the price until a point where enough drivers say "FWAH, so freaking expensive. i can't drive this route at this timing anymore."
then people who are desperate (or rich) enough to use the road can properly do so.

and just to clarify, the S$6 only lasts between 8:30 to 9am on weekdays, not 24/7 as i would guessed, going by some of the reactions.



why does our garmen discriminate agst poor people?
c'mon. public transport systems are readily available.
they are even offering free MRT rides before 7 or whatever but from what i gather, take-up rate has been low.


so my question is, how poor are Singaporeans really?
not poor enough to wake up earlier to travel for free, skip the queue and have less to complain about, thats how poor we are.



while i understand perfectly the frustration, we must take into account the limits faced by the authorities.
before we start lambasting the authorities for their decisions, we need to first ask if we have a better solution in mind?