In early 70’s, Singapore started to have congestion problems. It was the transition when Singapore were emerging as a strong economical market. Because of the economical which became stronger, the vehicles on the road increased and growing affluence of the Singaporeans.
Traffic congestion, based on the figures provided by the LTA, as of the year end 2008, there are a total of 894,682 vehicles in Singapore. The average daily volume of traffic entering the city alone is 278,300 vehicles. And the average speed in the CBD during peak hours is a paltry 26.7 km/h.
Singapore is known for being a clean, green country, however, since cars contribute to pollution, the government makes the car ownership fee higher, which lead them to take public transport that can reduce the pollution. Moreover, the Certificate of Entitlement (“COE”) which is needed to own a car, can be quite expensive, typically costing thousands of dollars. For example, the recent 21 October 2009 open category COE cost $19,901. However, even though only limited quota of new cars are allowed each month, the traffic jam still getting worse.
Singapore is not only a small country, but also a populated one which most of them are visitors from different countries.The increase of visitors over the years make the activities on the road busier, which also leads to traffic jam.
