Managing Traffic Congestion In SG

Causes
- Increasing population from 4.84 million in 2008 to 5.61 million in 2017 causes
population overcrowding, resulting in increasing demand for transport, including
private transport, hence leading to traffic congestion due to increased number of
car ownage by more individuals.

- Central Business District (CBD), which is the commercial centre needs to be

readily accessible to everyone, therefore, it is one of the most connected areas in
Singapore, resulting in high flow of traffic to and fro the CBD, leading to traffic
congestion.

- Due to rapid economic growth and increasing employment opportunities in cities,

it resulted in increasing affluence. As a result, people have a tendency to prefer
private car ownership over the usage of public transport as they tend to view car
ownership to be a depiction of their social status and material wealth, and that it is
also more convenient as compared to public transport. On top of that, there is a
heavy subsidy for fuel, hence with higher subsidies, it is more affordable to own
private transport, leading to greater car usage and increased traffic congestion. Commented [TSYA1]: Does not apply to singapore.
Context is on SG.

- Living in a competitive and economically-driven society, inconvenience in public

transport have made singaporeans to change their mode of transport to private
vehicles as singaporeans would want to be more efficient with time. Long waiting
time, overcrowding during peak hours and frequent train breakdowns have made
travelling much more inconvenient. Especially the working population will have a
great impact on their productivity. Hence the inconvenience of public transport Commented [TSYA2]: How does this point explain the
change in T&P towards car ownership (or car usage)?
have made people to change their taste and preference to private cars where there
is a rise in demand for private cars, increasing the number of cars on road leading
to traffic congestion.
Effects on different economic agents
Economic Agent – An economic decision maker who can recognise that different factors
influence and motivate different economic groups. They shape the world we live in. The
allocation of resources is dependent on their choices.

Consumer
- Lower disposable income as more money is spent on fuel Commented [TSYA3]: Applicable only to car owners,
not an impact on consumers in general
- Air, noise pollution
- respiratory issues, stress
- Increase in number of accidents Commented [TSYA4]: Explain how.
Firms
- Loss of productive hours and business opportunities leading to lower profitability

Effects

Long Run Commented [TSYA5]: Provides a sub header for each

paragraph (in terms of what effect that paragraph is on)
- In a traffic congestion, all drivers, passengers and commuters will not be able to Commented [TSYA6R5]: Identify the 3rd parties, and
link the effects to external cost. Explain MF
reach their desired location on time. This hinders the country from producing its
maximum output due to inefficient allocation of resources. In the long run, these
accumulates and may result in Singapore having an output way below its
productive capacity, worsening future material standard of living.

- Furthermore, consistent traffic congestions in a particular road may not be ideal as

the roads are not built to support the traffic flow of that many cars at one go. In the
long run, the roads tends to spoil more easily and repair work must be done
regularly. The government need to spend more money on road repairs, leaving the
government with limited budget to improve other areas in Singapore such as
healthcare or defence. Singaporeans will also not be able to use the roads during
that time period. All these affects the output of Singapore as not all resources are
fully employed for production and therefore future Real National Output will be
lowered, resulting in lower Real National Income and worsened future material
standard of living.

- Moreover, carbon emissions from vehicles can cause harmful health effects such
as breathing difficulties and even heart attack, stroke and lung cancer in the long
run as these harmful gases are constantly inhaled. Constant noises from the horns
 of vehicles can be very irritating to other drivers and residents living around the
area if heard for long periods of time. Clearly, these will really worsen the future
non-material standard of living to the point where living conditions will become so
unbearable.

Short Run
- The stopping and starting in traffic jams burns fuel at a faster than the smooth rate of travel
on the open highway. This increases the fuel consumption costs to drivers to top up their
fuel as well as contribute to the amount of emissions released by vehicles. The emissions
create air pollution, which ultimately leads to global warming. In another words, the
increase in emissions by the vehicles will worsen the air quality, thereby worsening the
non-material standard of living.

- Traffic congestion may also lead to cases of road rages happening frequently during traffic
jams. Road rage is a senseless reaction to traffic that is common in traffic-congested
areas. If someone is not driving as fast as the person behind him thinks he should, or if
someone cuts in front of someone else, it could lead to potential road accidents. Cases of
road rages will cause delays in the road as the drivers will be blocking a part of the lanes
in the road and this will delay the others drivers to reach their destination. Therefore, road
rages worsen the traffic congestion as it adds on to the already delayed travel time to
everyone involved in traffic congestion. Hence, there will be a worsening of non-material
standard of living as well as material standard of living as consumption costs for fuels are
increased.

Intended
- Traffic congestion acts as a warning signal, showing that there are too many
vehicles on the road at the same period of time. This would encourage more people
in Singapore to leave ahead/behind schedule to avoid the rush hours of traffic. This
would encourage people driving to plan ahead of time to avoid the traffic.

- Traffic congestion increases the opportunity cost of driving personalised vehicles, Commented [TSYA7]: private
due to the increased waiting time stuck in traffic and increased stress levels whilst
driving. This could persuade people to drive less during peak hours and take the
public transport, which directly solves the traffic congestion issue for the
government.

Unintended
- Traffic congestion has a negative externality on the environment and human health
due to the large number of vehicles on the road. People stuck in traffic jams tend
to leave their cars on not only wasting petrol but also emitting harmful pollutants
 such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere which
contributes to global warming and air pollution. This could lead to an increase in
respiratory problems amongst individuals in Singapore.

- An increase in traffic jams in Singapore could signal to transport authorities in

Singpore that there are definitely problems on the roads in Singapore. Such
problems could be too many traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, too narrow roads
and too many cars on the road. In the long run it could encourage the authorities
to take actions to solve these problems by maybe widening roads and reducing
the sales of cars while promoting public transport on a larger scale. However
building new roads and widening roads could also unintendedly cause more traffic
as more people choose to drive their cars than use public transport due to initialy Commented [TSYA8]: ?
less congestion and jams.

Positive
- Traffic congestion forces people to slow down their driving speed and hence could
possibly minimise the frequency and severity of road accidents. This reduces the
need for people to spend their income to repair their car as well as healthcare,
improving their material standard of living. This also reduces death counts and the
need to be hospitalised, reducing the grief and sadness caused to their close ones,
improving non-material standard of living.

- Allow passengers and drivers to observe what is happening around them and take
a small break from their hectic pace of life, improving non-material standard of
living.

Negative
- During a jam, it is difficult to determine the ideal speed to travel at and hence more
collisions are likely to occur. This increases the need for people to spend their
income to repair their car as well as healthcare, worsening their material standard
of living. This also increase death counts and the need to be hospitalised,
increasing the grief and sadness caused to their close ones, improving non-
material standard of living.

- Traffic congestion stresses people out especially if they are rushing to work or for
some important event. If the congestion issue is a long term problem, it may lead
to health issues such as heart disease and headache which would lead to lost in
productivity rate due to sick leaves and also worsening material standard of living
due to the need to spend on healthcare services. Apart from that it also causes
 anxiety, leading to lower non-material standard of living. People caught in a traffic
congestion is also likely to have their mood affected and this will affect their
productivity at work. They may also vent their frustrations on others, leading to a
ripple effect. According to a study, it was found that for every additional minute a
person commutes, they are expected to experience a decrease in
happiness/satisfaction and an increase in anxiety levels hence indicating that cities
with high level of traffic will have more unhappy citizens. These cities are also
termed as ‘Unhappy cities’. This worsens the non-material standard of living of the
people as indicated by the Happiness Index.

- When one is stuck in a traffic jam, opportunity cost is incurred. When one is late
for work due to traffic congestion, they may have a portion of their income deducted
due to a loss in working hours resulting in lower disposable income and material
standard of living. The effect is magnified for people in countries like Singapore
where the cost of living is very high. Companies will also suffer a loss due to lower
productivity. With lower productivity, lesser goods and services are produced, as
a result, the per unit labour cost increases and companies will shift the cost of
production to the consumers, reducing their business competitiveness affecting
the regional economic health negatively. When one is stuck in a jam after work, he
will have less time to spend with his family and friends and less leisure time to do
things that he enjoy, worsening non-material standard of living.

- Congestion also leads to noise (honking from impatient drivers) and increasing air
pollution and carbon dioxide emissions (petrol is still being burnt when it is
stationary on the road) and hence worsening non-material standard of living.

- Wear and tear of tyres due to idling in traffic and frequent acceleration and braking,
leading to more frequent repairs and replacements. This brings about additional
financial expenses and hence worsening material standard of living.

- when a road is congested, drivers would take an alternate roads to reach their
destination, causing jams on other roads, resulting in a spillover effect. When
drivers takes an alternate road which is near neighbourhoods, it would lead to
reduced neighbourhood amenity, reducing the attractiveness of these areas to
investors(I), which is a component of aggregate demand(AD), reducing aggregate
demand. As such, real estate prices would fall to entice investors in invest in it,
reducing profit. This is especially so for singapore, which have limited land.
Existing Policies (preferably 2 in sg 2 in other
country) + take into account sustainability

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Lesson Learnt
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New Policies

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