trams in penang in the near future?

UPDATED:  wednesday 15/08/07, 10:26 PM
the report that appeared in the star paper (mentaljog extra) on 14 aug. regarding the talk.

ORIGINAL POST:
with regards to my announcement on the public talk by ric francis on re-introducing tramways in penang, yes i attended the talk. it was a short presentation (15 mins to 20 mins) but the questions time was longer. quite a good crowd turned up – think over 50. several members of the press were there too. i left when ric was going to show a short video as i have to get back to work.

here is a picture of ric giving the presentation.

below you see a map picture of the proposed trams routes. as you can notice, there are 4 phases to be introduced. basically the first phase (red lines) covers a loop of the roads weld quay – light street/farquhar street – penang road – lim chwee leong road (formerly prangin road) – and back to weld quay. second phase (yellow lines) covers beach street, chulia street and the esplanade. as for the third and fourth phases, i’m not so sure of the roads. of course ric did told us in his presentation but i did not take down notes (nor can i remember).

the proposed tram routes only covered georgetown city area (short distances), working like a shuttle bus. ric suggested that the tram going round the city area would be good, cheap, affordable transport for tourists as they can hop on the tram to some tourist spots which are all in the city area.

ric also mentioned about trams being very low cost maintenance and gave us a handout on the environmental benefits of trams. i reproduce it here for your reading:

the electricity powered tram will eventually reduce the dependence on other forms of transport and help cut the level of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, as well as lead to a decline in energy consumption.

the trams are low energy users and help reduce the amount of carbon monoxide and suspended particles in the air.

the modern design of the tram incorporates regenerative technology. this process means recycling the electricity drawn by the tram, therefore reducing need to generate more electricity.

it has been estimated in some cities that over 60% of air pollution is generated by automobiles, each car emitting about one tonne of pollution per year. by reducing the number of cares off the road based on four passengers per car, in reality the figure would be higher based on sole driver occupancy of cares.

the introduction of trams will not increased airborne noise levels when compared with the level of ambient noise generated by other city traffic. in fact, electrically powered trams have exceptionally low noise levels and are much quiet than most trucks and buses. both interior and exterior noise levels are substantially higher for buses than for trams by some 5 to 15dB(A).

i managed to get the presentation of ric at the talk on my pendrive (see *) and you can download it here to have a look, if you are interested (or for those who missed his talk). the presentation shows pictures of several different type of trams in other countries.

*how did i managed to get the presentation? i met ric for dinner! he was staying at hotel malaysia. we went to the next door salsa restaurant for dinner.

yes! he bought his book, signed it and gave it to me. i’m so grateful to him. the book cost RM50.00 each and during the talk the penang heritage trust was encouraging the attendees to buy saying it is cheap at RM50.00. well considering the book is in hard-cover and with lots of pictures, it is cheap, but considering my financial situation, i wouldn’t want to buy a book that is at RM50, so i’m glad ric gave it to me. he said he had kept the book for me since last year! thank you so much, my dear ric!

glancing through the book, i notice steam tram was started as far back as the 19th century and it was in early 1900s that electric tram was introduced… and i think the last tram service was somewhere in the 1950s… not sure yet as i did not read the book yet.

at the dinner, i was telling him that i wanted to put up the routes map of the tram on my blog and he said he can give it to me if i have a pen-drive… and i did! i carry my pen-drive with me everywhere i go…. it’s like american express – don’t leave home without it! lol. well, so when we went back to the hotel he was staying in, he download the map and the presentation for me.

ric’s proposal of starting the trams sounds good but i don’t think at the moment with the structure of the roads and the current transport system, it is possible. maybe in the near future… say 10 years time, the trams will made a comeback? this also depends on the government of course – how serious are they to want the implement the tram system. oh, btw, the government is aware of ric’s visit and proposal. well… he was actually sponsored by the government to do the study and gave the talk.