Flasher

Friday, January 20, 2006

Public Transportation: Is It Safe?

Everyday thousands of people rely on the public transport to get from one destination to the next destination irregardless of the distance. We should be happy that its so easy to get public transport from one popular destination to the next but is that sufficient?

Rapid KL, supposedly the new and improved public transportation service has launched a whole fleet of bus plying the golden triangle route in hopes to abolish people using taxi/cabs. Their launching promotion is RM2.00 per day for unlimited rides. I don't have the exact details of the ending date but you can see the whole stretch of buses waiting in front of the HSBC bank down in the heart of KL city. This is with their vision of improving their punctuality and reducing waiting time.
But is that a good solution?

Since we know that the town center is already congested with vehicles, does putting more buses helps reduce or increase traffic? Buses will makes stops at every bus stop to pick up and drop off passengers. Does this helps easy traffic situation? Yes you can encourage the public to use these buses but is it feasible. People from all walks of life has their own individual needs. Time is of the essence and everyone is short on time. Yes I agree that if everyone traveling into KL uses public transport, then it will be a better place without much congestion. Hmmm so the bus companies/government’s vision is coming true, less congestion in the city limits?

There's different types of public transport readily available in our country. Buses, taxis/cabs, and also the LRT/Monorails inclusive of commuter trains plying the outskirts of town. I'm very sure that there are certain safety precautions taken by these companies that provide the services. Taxi's now can only ferry up to 4 passengers excluding the driver. What about buses and LRT's? Once so often you can see a stick-on on the mirrored windows of buses stating the total number of seated and standing passengers BUT is that all there is? Just for show, or a regulation to have the sticker, or a regular practice? What I observe is that some of the clause is totally wrong. Usually we'll be able to see
Seated Passengers: XXX
Standing Passengers: YYY
Total Passengers: ZZZ

Of course the seated passengers are correct. The figure for total passengers should be upped a level to indicate the amount of passengers that are standing!!! I beg to be wronged. Given peak hours, all buses are packed to the door with some barbaric enough to stand on the steps while hanging 1/2 body out the door. (In the past, maybe still happen nowadays). LRT's also face the same problem. Morning and evenings, the trains will be packed with people. Is there no safety rule against overcrowded transportation? Must an accident take place before the authorities start to give attention to public safety?

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Unsung Heroes: Cleaners

Everyday we're bound to see a lot of common people like street cleaners, garbage collectors, and the likes. Ever wonder why would people do these work? Is it because they're not educated? Family tradition? What would happen if there weren't them around doing the dirty work? Will our streets and country be so clean or will it become like a huge garbage dump smelling and rotting?

How many of us actually know the person cleaning your area?
Spoken/have a decent conversation with them before other than asking them for help when u have things to clear up?
I believe most of us would say never! Why is it so? Aren't they human? Is it just because the way the present themselves being all dirty and stinky?

Without a doubt, these minority plays an important role in society today. Even if we were to look down upon those working in this field, but we cannot deny that they are important. No matter however worse the situation might be, they will come and do their job whether late or on time.

Let's journey back into the past for a while. When I was small, the visual of the typical street cleaner that time was like a person holding a broomstick with lotsa black plastic bag tied around the broomstick or pushing a big green portable rubbishbin. They would sweep the rubbish and nicely deposit them into the bin/bags and place them by the roadside awaiting for the disposal truck to pick them up. Rain or shine they would do the job and everyday its the same routine only on different roads/areas.

Has they evolved over time? Has their situation got better? I believe the job hasn't changed but the people's attitude towards these work has changed dramatically. How? one might ask. Well if you haven't noticed, our government has privatized if not all, most of the garbage collection and cleaniness of our areas. We were to pay them monthly maintenance charge as we did before in hopes that they will do a better job as their jurisdiction is limited to certain area.... BUT its a wrong perception. I've seen street cleaners coming to sweep with nothing more than a broomstick. You know, those old fashion coconut 'lidi' type. Ahhh... brings back old memories... but hold on a sec... is there something missing in the picture? A street cleaner armed with only a broomstick? Where would the garbage go?

The latest trend that I noticed is that all swept garbage from the streets goes into the drain, river and etc.. whatever is convenient for them to dispose to. I'm not refering to those mid to high range living area, but normal low-cost flat area. This is the incident I've been seeing for quite sometime now. Rubbish/leaves are being swept into the river. Sometimes when you have a huge pile of rubbish piled up neatly in front/beside the rubbish bin, these people has the guts to either not receive the 'loot' OR ring n your doorbell and ask for some 'workmanship' fee as this is something extra-ordinary from their daily routing. The norm is that household would just give in to them.

Garbage truck collecting garbage is another niusance. They would always come in the oddest time to collect garbage. Early in the rush hour traffic (ie 8.00am-9.00am) This is the ost crucial time for everyone as they need to rush to work or send their children to school. As we know, these trucks are big and will stop regularly thus delaying traffic. Why can't they choose to do the work at another time slot? Maybe I'm naive but from movies, you can see all other countries has their garbage collection is either at night/evening or wee hours in the morning.. ie 6.00am-7.00am where traffic is less and the weather is not so hot!!! Why can other countries do that but not us? Is it that we stand by the phrase 'Malaysia Boleh!'

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Festive Season

Happy New Year everyone,

Christmas and New year has passed, Chinese New year is around the corner and everyone's in a jolly good mood because of the festivities. Clubs and popular venues are preparing themselves for a grand celebration which occurs once a year, BUT is it necessary?

Every day/date is unique. Only comes once a year... with the exception of Feb 29... So why don't we celebrate Feb 29 as this is the most unique day!!! To me, everyday there is a reason to celebrate. What is there to celebrate you might ask? Well for one thing, you can celebrate that you passed the day without any mishaps. As of late, there has been so many freak accidents, be it human error or nature... You might not live to see another day (touch wood).

Everyone will flock to these 'well known' area and celebrate with everyone.. thus making this a major income for some people and company's. Imagine how nice if all these fund can be put to a better use instead of the few moments of glory on fireworks which I believe cost a bomb. By converting this cost, a lot of good can be done if its channeled to other needy organization be it internally or externally.

Our government is reducing subsidy's on most of the products given the reason that with the funds saved, it can be channeled to upgrade the nation. Everybit goes a long way into building a better future for us or our next generation. I'm sure that in the near future, nobody will look back and say wow, did you hear about the greatest firework show held in XXXX year? All these title can be broken/overtaken if there's funds for it. The greater the fund is, the better/more spectacular the performance is... Don't you agree?

But if it was channeled to building a better future, then this will be engraved as part of our history and will be remembered for many many years to come. No matter what happen in the future, everyone can see/feel the minor changes/sacrifices made today as what we felt from the sacrifices made by those fighting the war to get our independence.