Malaysian Institute of Planners (Sarawak/Sabah Chapter) organised a Brown Bag Seminar on Sustainable Public Transport System entitled Solving Congestion – Improving Kuching Public Transport System on 19th January 2006.
The Seminar was presented by Dr. Lawrence Tseu, PhD., currently Principal Assistant Director in State Planning Unit, Chief Minister’s Department, Sarawak, in charge of Urban Development and Regional Sector. Dr. Lawrence Tseu completed Doctor of Philosophy for Research in Department of Environmental Planning (2004), School of Environmental Planning, Strathchyde University, with a research on ‘Congestion and Car Dependency in Kuching City’.
Dr. Lawrence Tseu described in his presentation that Kuching City has started to lose its identity as a small, calm, pleasant and congestion free city. Car dependency, as a result of poor transport planning and traffic management in the city, and the lacking of awareness on green transport and the environment consequences of traffic among its citizen, inter alia, the car culture and car crazed society, has increased traffic congestion and woes among commuters.
It is also a matter of fact that public transport service has deteriorated and declined in all aspects, and there is a failure to coordinate the planning of urban transport and lack of success in establishing an integrated public transport system in Kuching.
He proposed a few measures that could be taken by various stakeholders in the city. The starting point would be looking at Traffic Demand Management for Kuching based on a paradigm shift to ‘predict and prevent’, as all other formulae (the ‘predict and provide’ type) have failed. Improvement of public transport through the introduction of bus lane and the strengthening of institution framework overseeing integrated public transport planning are also inevitable if the city poised to achieve sustainability in public transport system.
The seminar has provoked lively discourse among the participants. Among others, some thoughtful and heavyweight comments from a representive from Sarawak Transport Company covering issues from availability of up-to-date city maps for bus route planning to the lacking of institutional support for public transport operators.
Some 50 participants from many different disciplines and backgrounds attended the session. Judging from the number of participants and responses during the Question & Answer session, the seminar certainly has achieved its purpose of promoting awareness and understanding of sustainable public transport system among professional practitioners, government officers, policy makers and individual concerned with urban public transport system and the environment.
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