Traffic Jams in KL and Peak Hour Levy

Extracted from NST Issue Dec 19th, 2006,

KL flirst with congestion fees

To stop traffic jams, the newly appointed mayor of KL, Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan suggested on his first day at work, that vehicles entering the city centre during peak hours will have to pay a levy. Car pool lanes system will be introduced along busy roads, at whose entrances City Hall officers will charge lone drivers.

The Cons

• Levy on one-person cars entering central business district during peak hours
• Restricted access to roads like Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Sultan Ismail

The Pros

• Improvements to public transport system
• Covered pedestrian walkways to LRT station, bus stops
• Intergrated ticketing system for buses and trains
• Motorists with at least two passengers need not pay levy
• Less congestion, pollution in city centre..

About Car-pool lane systems

Who: Drivers need two passengers to avoid levy

When: Peak hours on weekdays 7am-9am and 5pm-7pm

Where: Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Tuanku Abd Rahman, Jalan Sultan Ismail

Why: To get people to use public transport

Statistics by RapidKL shows:

Approx 1.5 million people drive to the city centre each day and only about 500,000 use public transport!

How other cities tacke traffic jams?

London – Since 2003, 5 pound sterling charge (RM34) for any vehicle entering/leaving or moving around in congestion charge zone between 7am-6.30pm Monday to Friday. Public transports are exempted. Results indicated traffic has improved by 15% over the first month of operation

Bangkok – Since 1999, Skytrain carrying 200,000 passenger trips per day. Results indicated that in 2005, more than 500,000 passengers trips per day.

California – Federal Highway Administration of US gives federal grants to cities to reduce congestion. Results seem not so prevalent.

Singapore – 4 pronged approach is adopted. – 1. Curb car ownership thru tariffs. 2. Public transportation is improved. 3. Road management to accomodate traffic is improved. 4. Implement area licensing scheme in 1975 (replaced by Electronic Road Pricing scheme in 1998, which installed gantries at entrances to the central business district. When a car with an in-vehicle unit passes under a gantry, a toll charge is deducted from a Cashcard in the unit.

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