OVER the decades, Klang Valley residents have had various proposed transport blueprints and master plans that have ebbed and flowed with the bureaucracy but never resulted in a truly efficient and cohesive system that could present even a reasonable challenge to the private car. So, it is good that the Kuala Lumpur mayor is conscious that, to make City Halls latest transport overhaul plan a success, there has to be the right balance of carrots and sticks. For the longest time, City Hall has talked about imposing electronic road pricing (ERP) in the inner city ” tolls on private cars entering the city centre. So far, it has remained a pipe dream; unrealistic because it would have been unfair to penalise city dwellers without first putting in place a fair alternative. The mayor acknowledges that to get commuters to truly convert to public transport, the ERP can only be introduced once an efficient transport system is up and running. The only question now is, when will that be?
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