Essay Final Draft

Overcrowding as a cause of transportation headache in Singapore

Globalization has been promoting advancement in technology, increasing accessibility to every part of the world. In "Linking Population, Poverty and Development"(n.d), it is recorded that in 2010, some 214 million people lived outside their country of origin. With the rising numbers in migration, there is high tendency for overcrowding to occur, particularly in urbanized areas. Urbanized areas are especially a hot spot for migration because of the vast number of job opportunities. Some countries, including Singapore, exemplify the overcrowding issue. The Singapore government in the early days were promoting foreign companies and inviting MNCs (Multi-national Companies) to set up their businesses in Singapore. Business in Singapore began to grow and more foreigners were encouraged to stay in Singapore. Consequently, Singaopre became the 3rd most densely populated country worldwide according to statistics shown in "Population Density"(n.d). As such, Singapore faces problems such as housing and transportation. Commuters travelling in the morning will experience the much-hated queue to get on a train or stand on a bumpy bus ride for an hour or so. The occurrence of overcrowding was also emphasized by one of Singapore's largest opposition party, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), in their proposal "Building A People" (n.d), which is on the negative impacts that overpopulation in Singapore has caused. Transportation has been highlighted as the key issue that needs to be addressed. As mentioned by Reuters (2013), some Singapore citizens are displeased with the rising number of foreigners because it causes these transportation problems.

Singapore government has been taking an active approach to address the issue by various means, implementing policies to enhance the transportation. Plans and projects are also constantly ongoing to ensure that the transportation system is able to handle the strain by the growing population. A policy to limit the employment of foreigners to locals ratio has been implemented as described in "Calculation of Foreign Worker Quotas" (2013), the total foreign employees that can be employed is based on the Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) of the various sector. Employers can utilise the algorithm to find the maximum number of foreign employees that he/she can employ. Levies are also applied on the employment of foreign workers to regulate the number of foreign workers in Singapore, as mentioned in "Levies & quotas for hiring foreign workers" (2013). With this restriction of number of foreign employees, it is likely to deter employers from expanding the number of foreign employees. Companies will be more reluctant to employ foreign workers to avoid paying the levies. Such implementations sum up part of the government's effort in minimizing the imbalance of foreign and local employees. 

With the rise in numbers, Singapore's daily ridership rises as well. To cope with the rise in ridership, the Singapore government expanded train service lines and increased the number of trains. In "Circle Line" (n.d), circle line is built to shorten trips between east, west and north. Circle line helps to lift off some of the strain on heavily dependent red and green lines. In addition, it is projected that Singapore will have two new lines by 2030 as reported by CNA/ac/fa (2013). Such constant upgrading of train service lines will ensure a more pleasant train journey.

Another initiative that has been introduced since June 2013, stated in "Travel Smart" (2013), is encouraging commuters to travel early and avoid peak period in the morning; it gives commuters incentive by making the travel fare free if commuters are to exit from the 16 specific city areas before 7.45am. The pricey travelling fare makes the incentive enticing to commuters. However, effectiveness of the campaign is largely attributable by the working hours. Commuters are more likely to commit to adjust their travelling time if the official working hour is near to the stated 7.45am. As such, it is suggestive that companies can impose flexi working hours or even staggered reporting time so that workers can plan their travelling time and the commuting crowd can be distributed overtime.

Despite efforts in improving the situation, many are still dissatisfied. Improvements are visible but commuters still face huge crowds everyday during peak periods and may worsen as Cheam (2013) reports that Singapore's population is expected to grow further to 6.9 million by 2030. This may signify that the strain on transportation will be adversely affected. Hence, Singapore ought to seek for more solutions to address the transportation issue before more dissatisfaction from the public.

Reference List:

Calculation of Foreign Worker Quotas (9 October 2013), retrieved on 10 October 2013, from 
http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/foreign-worker-levies/Pages/calculation-of-foreign-worker-quotas.aspx

Cheam, J. (29 Jan 2013). Singapore's population could hit 6.9m by 2030, with Singaporean core, retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20130129-398617.html

Circle Line (n.d) retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
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CNA/ac/fa (17 January 2013).  S'pore to have Two New MRT Lines by 2030, retrieved on 10 October 2013 from 
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/s%E2%80%99pore-to-have-two-new-mrt-lines-by-2030

Indexmundi.com (1 January 2012) retrieved on  October 2013 from 
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=21000

Levies & Quotas For Hiring Foreign Workers (9 October 2013), retrieved on 10 October 2013 from 
http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/foreign-worker-levies/Pages/levies-quotas-for-hiring-foreign-workers.aspx

Linking Population, Poverty and Development (n.d) retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
http://www.unfpa.org/pds/migration.html

MRT and LRT trains (n.d) on 9 October 2013 from 
http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/public-transport/mrt-and-lrt-trains.html

Reuters, T. (7 Feb 2013). Singapore Plans Rare Portest as Population Debate Rages, retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
http://www.newsmaxworld.com/Asia/singapore-protest-population-debate/2013/02/06/id/489104

Singapore Democratic Party (n.d). Building A People, retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
http://yoursdp.org/_ld/0/8_Building_a_Peop.pdf

Travel Smart (6 Aug 2013), retrieved on 9 October 2013 from 
http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/public-transport/mrt-and-lrt-trains/travel-smart.html