Chinese Road Sign in London

I was in London last week. Went to Chinatown. To my surprise, the road signs in this area were bi-lingual. Let us not forget that this is London, the "Capital City of England" and supposedly the heart of English language in the world.


This reminded me about all the controversies in Penang, when the State Government proposed to use bi-lingual road signs in certain part of Georgetown. I would not dwell back into these meaningless controversies, but as a whole, it reflected the myopic and narrow-mindedness of the critics in the issue.

I strongly believe these bi-lingual road sign initiative should not be confined merely to Penang (or Georgetown), but to all major road sign in Malaysia. When we think about tourism, do not side-track into other issues like politics. After all, Malaysia's tourism promotes itself as "Malaysia, Truly Asia". The multi-lingual road sign initiative is certainly a way forward.

Penang or Yangon?

Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak or better known as KOMTAR, is the unique symbol of Penang. The majestic building is the tallest building in Penang, which housed the Chief Minister's office and other government departments. KOMTAR was also one of the earliest shopping complex in the state and currently still remains as the hub of public transportation in the island-state.

KOMTAR was built in the mid-80s and remains as one of the tourist attraction in Penang. However, KOMTAR today reflected the image of Yangon rather than George Town. One can easily mistaken that they might have went to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, instead of Penang.

Level 2 and Level 3 of the complex was crowded with Myanmarese shops - selling Myanmar foods and handicrafts with loud-banging Myanmarese music. Walking along the corridor of the complex, one could easily identify foreign workers, which at times even outnumbered the locals. This leave many Malaysians, particularly Penangites, felt rather unsafe. This kept many wondering why Myanmar workers could obtain license to operate business in Malaysia. What does the authority has to say about this?

To make the matter worse, most of these shops were selling foods and drinks. The processing and cooking of food was done in shoplots with no proper ventilation and piped water. How can this happened in a fast developing country? It looks like the management of the once-prestigious building of Penang have no idea how to deal with these Third-World-Migrant-Workers. The municipal council and local government agencies, which all have offices in KOMTAR, seems to be also unable to tackle the problem.

Perhaps the Chief Minister should also seriously look into this issue as all these nonsenses are happening just a few floors below his office!

Travelling in Penang Public Bus

I was back in Penang for the holiday and travelled in a public bus for the first time since the revamp of the public transportation on the island.

It was really a scary and not too pleasant journey. The bus service in Singapore and Penang totally different and almost to an incomparable extent. There were so many aspects that could be improved, even without spending millions.

The most basic of all is the attitude and management of the buses and drivers. The condition of the bus was terrible and in fact worse than those buses I travelled 10-15 years ago. The attitude of the driver and bus conductor create an intimidating feeling on the passengers as if every passenger is immobilised without them. It was also evidenced that buses can stop anywhere along the road as long as someone raised his/her hand to flag the bus. Clearly, the management and administration could be improve and the company should always have the customers in mind as the most important priority.

City council and bus operators should focus more creating a more pleasant environment to encourage greater use of public transportation. Bus stops are filled with advertisement posters but one could not find any information about the bus services. I could not even find out the information of which bus actually will stop by. This reflected the hopelessness of the bus system because the bus stop is the first thing passengers will come across before even boarding the bus.

From these simple problems, the image of public transportation has scarred the image of Penang. As Malaysia is currently organising the Visit Malaysia Year 2007, perhaps greater effort and political will is needed to immediately improve the image of public transportation before it becomes a permanent feature of Penang.

In my opinion, Penangites are not asking for brand new and ultra modern buses. All the city needed is an efficient and friendly public transportation which include aspects such as consistent frequency of buses; pleasant attitude of drivers and bus conductor; clean and properly maintained buses; and proper bus stops with ample information on route were simple things that could greatly enhance the image of public transportation without going through a spending spree using the public fund.

Penangites, What's Your Opinion???

What is your opinion regarding the repeal of rent control towards Georgetown?

Has the development of Georgetown became better or worst since year 2000?

Thank you all for the comments shared.

Hope for Public Transportation?

It was interesting to note the study by American Public Transportation Association that swapping a second car with public transport could save up to US$6,200 per year. This certainly gives encouragement and reason for government to further improve the public transportation system.

From my family's experience in Penang, my dad could travel to work within 30 minutes with public bus. This was before the public bus system in Penang was revamp and the cost is only RM1 per trip. When the government increased the fuel price and promised to improve the public transportation system, the entire bus system in Penang was revamped.

After the change in system and policy, my dad's travelling time increased almost double and paid twice the amount for the trip. This sort of improvement does not seems to benefit the society and the economy as a whole. What sort of improvement to the society when it becomes more costly to travel in public transportation?

If US$6,200 could be saved by using public transportation, similar argument could not explain the situation in Malaysia. Although the price of public transportation does not increase significantly, the other opportunity costs associated with travelling in public transport has certainly increase. The waiting time has increased; the efficiency of public transportation, the comfort or the convenience has certainly decreased tremendously. All these are economic costs to the consumer of public transportation.

Public bus is never punctual with non-functioning air-conditioning.
Light rail transit (LRT) is always crowded like sardin in a can.
Taxi fare is unreasonably high.

The government should put in serious effort in improving the public transportation with the society as the focal point. By improving the public transportation, such a huge sum of expenditure could be saved and eventually the extra savings could flow into the economy to generate more wealth in the society. It takes practical and good planning in addition with strong political will to improve the public transportation of Malaysia. Let's ponder on the improvement!

Parking Issue in Penang

Many non-Penang drivers commented that driving in Penang was a nightmare. However, Penangites encounter a worse nightmare on a daily basis - that is parking!

There are several major problems related to parking in Penang. Firstly, the city faced problem with the lack of parking space. Penang's vehicle registration is the third fastest in Malaysia, only slower than Klang Valley and Johor. However, the availability of parking space does not increase in correlation to the increase in vehicles. This posed extra difficulties in finding parking around the city, especially in the city centre.

Adding to that, Penangites also encountered ruthless parking attendants, both legal and illegal. Illegal parking attendants usually operate in the evening and collect parking fees in areas which are suppose to be free. The attitude of these illegal attendants were usually rude and threatening.

Besides that, some legal parking attendants posed a different woes to the driving community. Overcharged, illegal increasing of parking fees were among the common problems faced by drivers. There were also cases where drivers were forced to pay a high flat rate instead of the hourly rate.

In order to solve the problems due to human attitude, Penang Municipal Council has installed parking meters. However, as reported by The Star (4 January 2007, page N15), the council has 3000 parking meters of two different models. One of the models has only two maintenance clerks and another model has no spare part. This has contributed to the high number of faulty meters in Georgetown. If drivers think that they are lucky to receive free parking due to the faulty meter, then don't be surprise to receive traffic tickets (saman) for parking in slots with faulty meters.

The parking problem in Penang seems to be getting from bad to worse. The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) has raised the matter with the municipal council nine years ago but Penangites still faced the same old problem when it comes to parking. Perhaps it is time for the council to adopt easier method in collecting the parking fees. There were several less problematic methods such as:

1) Paying machine along the road, where drivers will pay the machine and a ticket will be issued. The driver will then need to left the ticket on the car dashboard. The advantage is there only need to have one or two machine per street and unlike the parking meter allocated to every parking slot. This method has been used by the Petaling Jaya City Hall.

2) Coupons. Drivers will have to buy coupons from various outlet and displayed along the dashboard of the car. The method has been implemented in Seberang Perai, Johor and Singapore.

Both of the above two methods are more cost-effective and user-friendly. It seems to be more a win-win solution for both the municipal council with its higher revenue and to Penangites for a hassle-free parking facility.

Penangites to cycle?

The Chief Minister of Penang urged more Penangites to go around on a bicycle, while attending a campaign to promote bicycle riding. (The Star reports).

No doubt the intention to encourage people to cycle is indeed beneficial for the individuals as well as the society as a whole. It will certainly improve the wellness of an individual and promote healthy living. On top of that, cycling will contribute towards reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.

However, my past experiences of cycling in Penang have been scary and unpleasant. I have cycled around Penang Island in 1997 and and more recently in May 2006. Sadly, the road condition and planning certainly do not encourage cycling. It is extremely dangerous to cyclists due to the narrow road and fast-moving transports.

If the government is serious about encouraging cycling, then building more bicycle parking certainly is not the solution. Parking for bicycle was never a consideration for cyclist. It is the safety that the general public is concerned with. Surprising, cycling was more a pleasant experience in Singapore compared to Penang. It was pleasant due to the fact that I could cycle on the pavement (although I was told it might be illegal but everyone seems to be doing it) along roads and highways, which I do not need to worry about all the fast-moving vehicles.

There were several measures that the local government could take to encourage cycling rather than building more bicycle parking:

1) Building more pedestrian and cycling paths; and
2) Removing unnecessary barriers and leveled certain part of the curb for cyclists to cycle along the pavement

Ideas for Public Transportation

I came across this interesting video about public transportation - highlighting the problems as well as suggesting some solutions. Very interesting video to reflect the direction of which our public transport system is heading!

Moving Forward (Part 1, 2 & 3) - courtesy of Paul Barter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzwH9pme-J8&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsRRXfa9-uo&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AV7s3dFcBA&mode=related&search=