traffic ponderations

I've been on internship for two months out of the summer break in Singapore and have been taking the bus to and from work. It seems that there's scaffolding everywhere with new buildings coming up. For some strange reason most people have to go to work at the same time, and so will probably end up on the road or MRT during the same period.

I'm quite interested in road congestion and the works. I guess its probably an engineering thing to try to work on issues and with lots of commuting time the mind focuses on traffic. Hence, I'm borrowing an idea from one of the new terminator episodes.


The ERP concept makes economic sense and subscribes to the "people respond to dis/incentives" train of thought. Issues might arise with the way that it is implemented as existing infrastructure is not always "ERP compliant"; some roads lead out of the ERP zone without much notice or options to turn around (near Sim Lim), and certain routes have many gantries which sap the cashcard.

Ideally such an arrangement would have nice roads in the shape of a grid, with zones similar to the london tube zone system. Cars would be warned by signs beforehand of the gantry activity where an option would be presented to divert from the path. Trying to put this into practise with existing infrastructure is another story altogether and I do hope the road planners are taking all the considerations into account.


Instead of passive traffic control systems currently in use, the way to reduce congestion may be in the form of an active system where real-time traffic feedback is received and traffic light timings adjusted to dissipate congestion. Traffic data of the number of vehicles would be needed, and this could be collected in the form of on-site cameras or... vehicle transmitters. George Orwell's "Big Brother" is probably echoing on fears at this point, but let's assume that the transmitters are "anonymous" for concept's sake.

The active traffic system would have control of all the traffic light timings in the area of "influence", and would have access to previous traffic data and various possible scenarios (all done by traffic modelling). If a certain cross road sees mainly traffic on one side, the timing would be adjusted to give more time to the traffic-heavy direction. This may only serve to transfer the bottleneck, although congestion may be dissipated along the way. If both roads are equally congested then we're in trouble preventive measures "upstream" of the roads could be taken to reduce trafficflow. In any case, data compiled by the computer would provide a holistic approach in pinpointing the areas in need of upgrades such and road widening and the like.

A possibly unpopular idea would be that the active system have control of the ERP pricings and adjust them in real time (up to an agreed maximum). This is likely to be hugely unpopular, as the price will only go UP during a congestion, and inadvertedly miff people off.

I'm not too sure of the exact makeup of the system or its feasibility. It would certainly require a massive amount of computing (and hoping the system doesn't crash). In such an instance the back up "pre-active system" could be used, with traffic timings back to their default setting, not too sure whether an optimal solution could be calculated either; maybe those with computing and modelling know-how could contribute. Faced with existing infrastructural problems and increasing road use, an active traffic system is probably one of the best ways to combat congestion and improve traffic flow.

Or maybe employees could let all their employees work from home =P

chicken essence for the ______

There's been a recent advertising campaign regarding chicken essence by a prestigious junior college in the bishan-ang mo kio area company other than Brand's. Such adverts have littered bus stops and share a similar format.

1. Picture of smiling student/s holding bottle of chicken essence.
2. Uniform without school badge.
3. The caption "My Choice".
4. The title "Top Student of *Insert Exam*".

Note: Brand's advertises their product using the MTV guy Utt in an exaggerated commercial.

My first thought was

"How do companies mass produce chicken essence?" I imagine huge vat of boiling chickens, mechanical stirers, chicken mashers and all...

I'm not sure what "My Choice" means exactly or when the endorsers chose the product. Also in the air is how often the particular brand of chicken essence was consumed. It does seem slightly odd that these advertisements are placed at pharmacies, especially at a time of approaching examinations and a "maximum point" of concerned parents.

A possible ad implication is that top students depend on the product for their results and that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Whether these academically top students (and their parents) considered the effects of the endorsement, or whether the marketing team made their advertising intentions known to the endorsers is up for grabs.

There's no denying the importance of holistic conditioning for peak examination performance, and many factors contribute to this. However, it is one thing to say "choice of many students during examinations" and another to parading academically top individuals and their grades (psle to pre-university). This only serves to over emphasize the importance of grades and play on the curious human tendency to seek out "magic short cuts".


did you drink anything "special" during the examination preparations?

postcard from easter holidays

Naples is a city at the south of italy. The city is pretty unimpressive and slightly dodgy, but around it and accessible by train are little gems such as pompeii.



I wasn't sure about taking this photo. These are part of the sights, and yet there was a fear of a "patronising tourist" attitude, especially with the possible influence on a young child. I guess it is part of busking, and it was a real eye opener.

Pompeii being a coastal town has really good seafood.

Really Good Food.

The ruins of pompeii. The ancient city got buried under tons of ash when the volcano vesuvius erupted.



We visited the ruins after viewing what caused it.

It was spring with cool weather on the ground level. Vesuvius is still an active volcano and the close proximity of current inhabitants will translate to alot of scurrying around should anything happen.

We were prepared to trek to the top of a steaming hot volcano.

What we didn't prepare for was an icy-cool-hail-covered trek.

Yes, it was HAILING at the volcano top in spring. the time where leaves are supposed to grow on trees, when children play in the park, the 2nd warmest season of them all.

Most of the white stuff are little hail stones.


The crater was well.. a crater. took a peak down and posed for pictures for about 5 mins when a massive cloud decided to visit and hail on us.


It was quite a hailstorm. The hailstones weren't very large but there was thunder and lighting and visibility was quite terrible.

There was only one thing to do..


(while scurrying down the volcano) *high altitude SMU jump*

Did you expect anything else? =D

welcome to singapore!

when news came out that Singapore Airlines was going to use the A380 on the london-singapore route, i jumped at the chance to take a trip on it because it's a huge plane technological and engineering breakthrough that will revolutionise the future of air travel. With the same price tag as a ticket on a SQ 747, the flight promised to be a really good one.


The flight didn't disappoint. They seemed to have increased the width of each seat and the seat spacing between columns. I didn't feel cramped at all during the flight. The guy in front of me had a front row seat so maybe he was nice and didn't recline all the way.


Half of the upper deck is actually economy class with a 2-4-2 seating configuration (compared to the 3-4-3 arrangement on the lower deck) which probably isn't known to everyone. No picture of the desk cause i didn't get the chance i'm afraid..


heathrow terminal 3 boarding area.


and the best part is, you get to board using the same route as the business class travellers! not too sure how they feel about it though..


passing through the business class section to the economy class. the seats there looked more like inclined beds.. really spacious. If i were to (hopefully get bumped up) sleep on one of these, i think i'll spend the entire flight just rolling around on the bed. The humidity seems to be higher as well compared to the 747 so you won't really wake up with an extremely dry throat midway.


The krisworld console and the trays have been redesigned. There's a slot for spectacles (at least that's what i used it for) and an extra cup holder for when the tray is not being used. The tray itself comes in 2 sections so that the size can be adjusted. one end of the tray reveals a mirror for looking at how hagged you are during the flight.


Very thoughtful and much appreciated.


here's the staircase between the upper and lower deck. I'm not too sure where the crew sleep since there's usually crew quarters at the back of the plane.


There's a wide ledge at the window side where even more stuff can be kept. I was at the aisle but i think it can also be used to rest an elbow on when sleeping. Service was really good with nice snacks: cup noodles, biscuit assortment (you know the fake oreos, chocolate biscuits with chocolate cream "local" biscuits? yeah that one).

A very good experience from SQ. bring on the september flight!

squeeze the sponge

It's Spring! The sun is out in the clear blue sky. children are playing, running about in the park! its an absolutely wonderful time to take a nice stroll and breathe in the fresh air study.

I made up the part about children playing. I haven't been to hyde park lately but i'm quite sure its happening.

I've been preparing for (and currently having) exams. The good part is that my course ends earlier than pretty much everyone else -does a little jig-. The downside is in having to revise when most people are free-er and being free when they are just starting their exams. not to mention the champions league FINALS being in the middle of exams.

The exams have started, they will end soon and with a little jig Singapore will come with chilli crab.