Sustainable transport options
by Howard Shaw Updated 12:56 PM Sep 10,
2010As our community grows, and our personal needs grow in a society that is
still dominated by material goods and getting more out of every hour of every
day, we are learning even more about our effects on the environment, and it is
disturbing to all of us.

When thinking about alternative modes of
transportation, various options need to be taken into consideration. Do we
really need a personal car?

In a small island state like Singapore, the
answer is no.

Yet most people who own a car would claim that their main
motive is for convenience. This raises a different question: What can be done to
improve convenience and encourage the population to rely more on public and
alternative modes of transportation?

There are several improvements
which could be made in Singapore to have people adopt more sustainable modes of
transportation.

First of all, the public transport system is fast
reaching saturation point. As the population increases, the public transport
network must keep up at the same rate. A lot of effort can be put into improving
the network by expanding the number of routes and increasing the frequency of
buses and MRT trains. Many people own a car for the simple reason that the area
they live in or want to access is not serviced or easily accessible by public
transport.

The bicycle and pedestrian tracks remain undeveloped in
Singapore. It remains difficult to go from point A to B without having to ride
along the busy roads. A lot of effort could therefore be invested into
developing a proper network of safe tracks for bicycles and pedestrians.

The cost of buying a hybrid vehicle remains much higher than that of a
normal car. In order to have people purchase this type of vehicle which have
lesser emissions, the government would need to provide a range of incentives.

Electric vehicles have recently been introduced to Singapore, and they
have the advantage of having zero emissions during their usage. However, we must
keep in mind that almost all of the energy in Singapore is derived from the
burning of fossil fuel from natural gas. Therefore, in order for such cars to
have a positive impact on reducing emissions, the energy grid powering these
cars would need to be from a sustainable source (for example, solar or wind).

From the angle of transport for our daily activities, we could look at
the necessity of most people needing to move twice a day in order to get to and
from work. As society is changing, so should our daily behaviours. An increasing
number of companies in Europe and North America adopt a work from home concept.
Employees are no longer required to physically be at the office for work but are
assessed on work output and deliverables which can all be done from home. Such a
model applied on a large scale can have very significant impacts on reducing
unnecessary transportation.

The end message is this: In order to make
significant changes in mitigating emissions from the transportation sector, we
would need to rethink our daily behaviour and activities. Last but not least, a
lot of effort can be done to raise awareness on the need to shift to sustainable
modes of transportation and highlight the issue of global warming.

The
Singapore Environment Council (SEC) believes in education and outreach to the
public on such issues and is organising the Singapore G1 for this reason. The
Singapore G1 is an event featuring races like the Soap Box Derby, Eco Car Race,
Buggy Race, Trishaw Race and other activities like walking and cycling.

SEC aims to raise awareness and encourage the development and use of
green technologies in transportation, and more cost-effective modes of
transportation like public transport. At the same time, Singapore G1 promotes
simple lifestyle changes like walking and cycling.



The writer is
the executive director of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC). The Singapore
G1 green event is supported by Today as part of the newspaper's 10th anniversary
celebrations.

Members of the public can head down to the Float @ Marina
Bay on Sept 19, between 2pm and 8pm to watch Asia's first Soap Box Derby. For
more information, please visit www.singaporeg1.sg or call SEC on 6337 6062
begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 6337 6062 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd

I think it's nice to know that there are changes being made in Singapore in hope to prevent more global warming & also, that there is going to be awareness regarding global warming. I hope that people will do their best to help with the global warming stituation & take part in the changes that are being made.