Compendium of Me

Having put forth some of my suggestions and views, and seen how the state government and the Penang state fared in general, I’ll now be concluding the “series” regarding traffic issues by talking about what the state government CAN do. “Can” here refers to capability and permission, as there are limitations to the state’s financial and legal capacity.

Firstly, with a budget of just over RM400 million, and a state reserve of around RM461.6 million, the state government is not in the position of “taking over” or be directly involved in the provision of any public transportation service. Furthermore, any loan or bond would require the approval and the guarantee from the federal government. Public transportation, being a form of “public service” with very high initial investment, is not really financially sound in the state government’s perspective. The state, through the local council, can pay for or subsidise the cost of running public transportation, as they do with the Central Area Transit, costing them RM50,000 a month.

Secondly, the state has extremely limited power when it comes to transportation issues, as most aspects are governed and regulated by the federal government – commercial vehicle licenses, routes and fares are regulated by the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CLVB), the Transport Ministry maintains the transport network but is less involved in planning, the state Economic Planning Unit (EPU) plans for infrastructure development but is not involved in the operation, the Finance Ministry funds and controls Prasarana (which owns the buses) and Rapid (which runs the buses), and the Road Transport Department and the Police enforce the laws and ensure the safety on the road. Describing the whole situation as an complicated, entangled web is a gross understatement.

It is easy to see that the lack of a state-level transport authority contributes to the problem. This is the reason the Penang Forum Working Group for Transport recommended the establishment of a Penang Transport Council as an interim solution, which the Penang state government gladly obliged. The problem is far from over, since the council has no authority over anything. Furthermore, the optimum outcome would be to set up a legally constituted Penang Transport Commission, but the Working Group mentioned:

… the establishment of a Transportation Commission would take time as it is a legally constituted agency and would have to go through a possibly lengthy legal process…

Recognising all the limitations of the capability of the state government, one should realise the state government’s role in traffic and transportation issues in Penang is as enabler and facilitator. They have control over the legislation and execution of the state, which enable them to make certain laws favourable to the issue, or build bus lanes or bicycle lanes. They have certain control over some facilities or land, which can facilitate the implementation of public transport. One example would be leasing a land to RapidPenang as depot for a reduced rent.

Let’s see then some suggestions of what the government CAN do:

1. Conduct or fund a comprehensive research into the road usage and transportation statistics of Penang.
2. Develop a Penang Transport Master Plan. (already in progress)
3. Legislate that every single development project must be submitted with a realistic, comprehensive Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA).
4. Significantly increase the presence and patrolling of council law enforcers to issue parking fines and deter indiscriminate parking.
5. Change traffic flow of certain major roads to one-way to improve traffic condition or facilitate the implementation of bus lanes or bicycle lanes. (already in progress)
6. Reduce private vehicle traffic by increasing the use of public transport in George Town, e.g. through more Central Area Transit buses.
7. Build more multi-storey car parks (e.g. through Build-Operate-Transfer) which allow park and ride facility.
8. Introduce innovative parking fee system (e.g.: first 15 minutes free, incremental charges) in high traffic area to discourage double parking.
9. Work with existing transportation operators (RapidPenang, other bus companies including school buses, taxi operators, ferry operator).
10. Carry out integrated marketing campaign (similar to No Plastic Bag Day) in conjunction with other operators to encourage the use of public transport.

All the suggestions above do not require massive investment on the part of the state government. Quite the contrary, the having incremental parking charges and significantly increasing the presence and patrolling of council law enforcers to give out parking fines might actually increase the revenue of the government, or at least could offset some of the cost of implementing the suggestions above.

There are things that the state government can implement with the limited financial capability and the legal power that they have. Hopefully, the Penang state government can increase their effort considerably to improve the ever-deteriorating state of traffic and transportation problems in Penang.