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RECENTLY, there has been news about the LRT (Light Rail Transit) recommended by the specialist consultant. The idea is good, but is it viable? Or will this be another white elephant? Let's think about the reasons behind it: to have better transportation system to ease the traffic jam (between BSB city centre and Brunei airport)? To ease the congestion in Kiulap, Gadong Centrepoint area? To help the environment, providing a greener transportation system in the long run? To promote Brunei as a developed country since all major developed countries have one sort of LRT/MRT or another? Okay, let's think whether having an LRT, it will solve those problems.

)Do the people of Brunei travel from point to point only? Meaning, when one takes the LRT from point A to point B, is that it? If the person, after travelling to point B, and then wants to travel to point C (and point C is not on the LRT route), will there be another public transportation to take that person from point B to C. If not, then, the person will find it inconvenient, and hence may not use the LRT.

)Will there be sufficient parking areas at each LRT station? Is there transport for the person to travel from home to the station? Is it likely for the person to drive from home, park at the station, travel by LRT to the destination, return later to the station, and drive home? (Is this the normal practice?) Or is the station close enough for many to walk from home? Will there be a big multi-storey parking area at each LRT station for the cars? Will this be chargeable? If so, by the time we add the car park fees and the LRT fees, will the LRT cost be cheaper than driving to the destination?

)It was proposed to have the LRT run every three minutes, and each has the capacity of 250 passengers. Let's forget about the building costs (building costs of not only the construction of the stations/the facilities at the stations/shops, the rails, but also the parking areas, the surroundings) as well as the costs of using state lands and buying back the land which is currently occupied by private land owners. Let's just talk about the running costs. The maintenance of the station cleanliness, the station master, the ticket booth, the maintenance of CCTV, the ticketing system, the rail etc.

How much do we expect to charge the passenger for each trip? $2 one way? How many people do we expect to use this system everyday? 10 per cent of the city population? 6,000 x $2 x two ways = $24,000 per day. 24K x 30 days = $720K per month. Can $720K cover the running costs of the whole LRT system? Is there any other possible solutions to solve the problems? Let's explore the idea of:

)Green bus: Instead of using the money to construct the LRT system (which may take five years?) we can almost immediately buy 50 (100?) electricity powered buses (so immediately we can see the effect no more polluted buses running in our streets).

)By having the buses, we do not need to build further infrastructure (over head rails for LRT etc). We can use the existing roads. Instead of spending the money on building and acquiring the private lands, the money can be used to acquire some lands to expand/widen the roads.

There is also a report suggesting government to increase fuel prices (well, reduce the fuels subsidy ), so the money can be used to subsidise the operation of LRT. Similarly, the money can be used to subsidise the costs of importing green vehicles. And maybe, by imposing higher import taxes on the normal petrol/diesel vehicle, and subsidising the cost to import electricity powered vehicles, we can encourage the use of greener vehicles, and who knows, we may be the first country in the world to use only green vehicles. After all, Brunei is a small country and it does not have hundreds of kilometres to be travelled. The suggestion to build LRT system is good. It has prompted the people to think of the solutions of congestion problems, of how lucky we are to have the fuel subsidies. So, whatever the decision the authority is taking, at least we have been enlightened. Good luck Brunei!

Anak Brunei
Jalan Muara