By ELIZABETH JOHN, New Straits Time
June 22, 2008
It looks good in the draft plan, what with the seemingly complete urban rail network and multi-coloured maps. But a city planner tells ELIZABETH JOHN that the transport blueprint for Kuala Lumpur has as many holes as a kitchen colander.
A QUARTER century in the planning business and Goh Bok Yen says he's never come across an urban transport blueprint like the one in the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan.
The entire focus of the plan is on the urban rail network, with 11 new and extension lines, and 119 new stations drawn into its multi-coloured maps for the city.
In the plan's chapter on connectivity and accessibility, precious little is said about buses.
There's not a word on taxis, says Goh in disbelief.
And only silence on the need for new roads or even wider ones as the capital grows to house 600,000 more people in a dozen years from now.
Though the public transport share has only risen by five per cent between 1997 and 2005, the plan assumes that by 2020, there will be such a shift to public transport that demand for cars will reduce.
The plan also assumes that with so many new urban rail lines planned, the number of buses needed could also be cut from 2,200 in 2010 to just 1,700, 10 years later.
New rail lines and fewer cars might sound heavenly but here's the problem:
No one is certain how far the new rail lines in the draft plan comply with the actual plans of Syarikat Prasarana Nasional Berhad which manages public transport in the city, says Goh.
The KL draft plan will allow the densest housing and commercial development around these proposed new rail stations.
But if the two plans don't match or plans for new lines are shelved, there's a real fear hordes of city folk could be left stranded.
Even as it stands, Goh, the planner of Mag Technical and Development Consultants, says he's not so sure the draft's new lines and stations are in the most suitable locations.
In the first place, many lines and stations have been drawn into already crowded places where there may be no space for them.
One example is Mont Kiara where a new rail line will have to squeeze between an international school and a high-rise condominium on a road, that is in reality, just 66 feet wide.
Another is on Jalan Kelang Lama, where the line will have to run through a busy 50-foot-wide road that hosts a street side market in the morning and is double parked to death at night.
"A rail line is not just a track and station. It also means having enough space to allow feeder buses and cars to enter and leave the place, so we must have a road that's big enough.
"And we haven't even started talking about a car park!"
Then there's the Transit Planning Zone at Jalan Parlimen that covers the National Monument-Lake Club-Lake Garden area. This will allow for higher density development and mixed use activities.
"Is that what we really need?" asked Goh, explaining that the choice of station sites and lines should be justified by estimated ridership figures, which the draft plan doesn't show.
Urban rail lines must be demand-driven, not the other way around.
Putting the cart before the horse -- increasing population first -- could leave the city with no space for the lines and trains that would come later.
"Rail lines are built at a huge cost, said Goh, at about RM500 million per kilometre.
"So they must be viable in operation, economic and engineering terms. If not, you're just wasting public funds."
But if all goes well and those rail lines are built, said Goh, the draft plan is still silent about how people will get to their final destination from the spanking new stations.
And that's another problem -- the draft plan doesn't identify the roles of other modes of transport within a comprehensive system.
The draft plan doesn't tackle feeder bus services that should be ferrying residents to nearby shops or to bus and LRT stations.
There's been no planning for amenities and facilities for taxis, a lifeline for many in this choked city.
It hasn't mapped out the best forms of transport for each area either, said Goh.
"A rail line is great but it's not door-to-door. And should a 40-foot bus be going down a 40-foot road?"
For those 11 lines to be successful, the city will need the support of other transport modes or it will be repeating the mistakes it made with its first light rail transit lines.
And there's no reason why the draft plan can't show this kind of planning when the maps are detailed enough to show individual house lots.
Goh also has reservations about the park-and-ride system in the draft plan, especially the 250-lot car park in Taman Maluri.
Firstly, it's too few parking lots. Secondly, Taman Maluri is famous for its terrible traffic.
"What's the use of park-and-ride, if people can't even get there? I'd really like to know the rationale for this," said Goh.
"The idea is to keep people from bringing their cars into the city centre. Since 2.2 million people cross the Middle Ring Road II to get into KL, planners should be setting up park-n-ride where those drivers can access it."
The plan has so ruffled the shy, mild mannered transport planner that he's taken up invites to explain the plan's proposals to worried residents in the past week.
But he's not just been talking about the problem proposals, Goh's also talked about the many silent issues.
The draft plan says nothing of the fate of the several already committed road projects listed under the KL Structure Plan.
There is also no acknowledgement of new roads that were proposed and roads identified as missing linkages under that earlier plan.
It has not made any special provision for school buses and the many heavy vehicles that will have to enter the city to service the burgeoning retail sector and construction sites among others, said Goh.
"They just haven't spent enough time thinking about the concept behind a comprehensive system."
If the draft plan is approved, the city council may be gazetting something they cannot construct or realise, said Goh.
"We will end up with very high density areas with no railway links or adequate traffic dispersal capacity and worsen the already dismal situation we have today.
"The city will look beautiful, like a world-class city, but it won't be one."
June 22, 2008
It looks good in the draft plan, what with the seemingly complete urban rail network and multi-coloured maps. But a city planner tells ELIZABETH JOHN that the transport blueprint for Kuala Lumpur has as many holes as a kitchen colander.
A QUARTER century in the planning business and Goh Bok Yen says he's never come across an urban transport blueprint like the one in the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan.
The entire focus of the plan is on the urban rail network, with 11 new and extension lines, and 119 new stations drawn into its multi-coloured maps for the city.
In the plan's chapter on connectivity and accessibility, precious little is said about buses.
There's not a word on taxis, says Goh in disbelief.
And only silence on the need for new roads or even wider ones as the capital grows to house 600,000 more people in a dozen years from now.
Though the public transport share has only risen by five per cent between 1997 and 2005, the plan assumes that by 2020, there will be such a shift to public transport that demand for cars will reduce.
The plan also assumes that with so many new urban rail lines planned, the number of buses needed could also be cut from 2,200 in 2010 to just 1,700, 10 years later.
New rail lines and fewer cars might sound heavenly but here's the problem:
No one is certain how far the new rail lines in the draft plan comply with the actual plans of Syarikat Prasarana Nasional Berhad which manages public transport in the city, says Goh.
The KL draft plan will allow the densest housing and commercial development around these proposed new rail stations.
But if the two plans don't match or plans for new lines are shelved, there's a real fear hordes of city folk could be left stranded.
Even as it stands, Goh, the planner of Mag Technical and Development Consultants, says he's not so sure the draft's new lines and stations are in the most suitable locations.
In the first place, many lines and stations have been drawn into already crowded places where there may be no space for them.
One example is Mont Kiara where a new rail line will have to squeeze between an international school and a high-rise condominium on a road, that is in reality, just 66 feet wide.
Another is on Jalan Kelang Lama, where the line will have to run through a busy 50-foot-wide road that hosts a street side market in the morning and is double parked to death at night.
"A rail line is not just a track and station. It also means having enough space to allow feeder buses and cars to enter and leave the place, so we must have a road that's big enough.
"And we haven't even started talking about a car park!"
Then there's the Transit Planning Zone at Jalan Parlimen that covers the National Monument-Lake Club-Lake Garden area. This will allow for higher density development and mixed use activities.
"Is that what we really need?" asked Goh, explaining that the choice of station sites and lines should be justified by estimated ridership figures, which the draft plan doesn't show.
Urban rail lines must be demand-driven, not the other way around.
Putting the cart before the horse -- increasing population first -- could leave the city with no space for the lines and trains that would come later.
"Rail lines are built at a huge cost, said Goh, at about RM500 million per kilometre.
"So they must be viable in operation, economic and engineering terms. If not, you're just wasting public funds."
But if all goes well and those rail lines are built, said Goh, the draft plan is still silent about how people will get to their final destination from the spanking new stations.
And that's another problem -- the draft plan doesn't identify the roles of other modes of transport within a comprehensive system.
The draft plan doesn't tackle feeder bus services that should be ferrying residents to nearby shops or to bus and LRT stations.
There's been no planning for amenities and facilities for taxis, a lifeline for many in this choked city.
It hasn't mapped out the best forms of transport for each area either, said Goh.
"A rail line is great but it's not door-to-door. And should a 40-foot bus be going down a 40-foot road?"
For those 11 lines to be successful, the city will need the support of other transport modes or it will be repeating the mistakes it made with its first light rail transit lines.
And there's no reason why the draft plan can't show this kind of planning when the maps are detailed enough to show individual house lots.
Goh also has reservations about the park-and-ride system in the draft plan, especially the 250-lot car park in Taman Maluri.
Firstly, it's too few parking lots. Secondly, Taman Maluri is famous for its terrible traffic.
"What's the use of park-and-ride, if people can't even get there? I'd really like to know the rationale for this," said Goh.
"The idea is to keep people from bringing their cars into the city centre. Since 2.2 million people cross the Middle Ring Road II to get into KL, planners should be setting up park-n-ride where those drivers can access it."
The plan has so ruffled the shy, mild mannered transport planner that he's taken up invites to explain the plan's proposals to worried residents in the past week.
But he's not just been talking about the problem proposals, Goh's also talked about the many silent issues.
The draft plan says nothing of the fate of the several already committed road projects listed under the KL Structure Plan.
There is also no acknowledgement of new roads that were proposed and roads identified as missing linkages under that earlier plan.
It has not made any special provision for school buses and the many heavy vehicles that will have to enter the city to service the burgeoning retail sector and construction sites among others, said Goh.
"They just haven't spent enough time thinking about the concept behind a comprehensive system."
If the draft plan is approved, the city council may be gazetting something they cannot construct or realise, said Goh.
"We will end up with very high density areas with no railway links or adequate traffic dispersal capacity and worsen the already dismal situation we have today.
"The city will look beautiful, like a world-class city, but it won't be one."
