LETTERS: If Malaysia is to become a smart city, smart mobility is key. As such, the country needs to improve on its transportation system and adopt frontier technologies.
Smart mobility is advantageous. A study done in Copenhagen, Denmark shows that its public transportation, which features smart mobility, can provide a healthier lifestyle that has been linked toa lower mortality rate, a happier disposition and in- creased productivity at work.
Using public transportation means less road congestion and pollution. In the United States, public transportation can reduce 865,000,000 hours of travel time, which causes a depletion of 450,000,000 gallons of gas being burnt.
In Malaysia, one big constraint to smart mobility is accessibility. It is crucial as transportation facilitates our daily activities such as access to jobs, schools and public facilities.
Even most walkways here are difficult to access, or in bad condition and far from the neighbourhoods. The system is also inconvenient for people who have limited access to shuttle buses and such.
Low-income residents in Kuala Lumpur have difficulty accessing public transportation because these locations are far away from any mobility hubs.
Moreover, the quality of service in our public transportation system is an issue due to poor management by city councils and transit authorities. There have been many complaints regarding ticketing, punctuality and efficiency of services. Most users have to endure long waits to get to their destination, and arrival time is usually delayed.
Some LRT stations also have limited parking spaces.
Hence, to realise the objective of smart mobility, there is a crucial need to improve on accessibility to public transportation, integrated mobility, management of traffic and technologies for parking. These will then become a turning point in the government’s initiative towards becoming a Smart City.
But then most Malaysians prefer to drive their own cars, adding to traffic congestion problems. Therefore, the government needs to discourage the usage of cars while upgrading our public transportation system to encourage people to make the right choice.
As Malaysia is in the midst of embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the government should harness the capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) to mitigate transportation problems in order to become a smart city.
This can be achieved via the concept of connected transportation where in vehicles are equipped with WiFi or an Internet connection while travelling on the road. The concept implies routes can be optimised and traffic congestion can be reduced.
The data gathered through IoT devices can be analysed by experts for decision-making.
With the aid of IoT, the trans- portation authority can analyse the amount of data through sources such as ticketing and vehicle sensors to set up a plan on improving the services and providing information to users. Traffic safety can also be analysed by tracking traffic, speed and weather conditions.
In Singapore, its Land Transport Authority has been developing its open data and analytics for an urban transportation pro- ject on accessing real-time data such as traffic conditions to assist users on decision-making and navigation of their surroundings.
Smart parking solutions include technology for the right infrastructure, security cameras,
sensors and Internet connection so that people will not have any parking issues, especially in urban areas.
With IoT, data on avail able parking is shared through mobile apps, social media or websites and thus, traffic congestion can be reduced.
Autonomous vehicles too have received public attention because of their safety features, energy consumption and systematic parking.
Public transport covers around 75 per cent of our urban areas. Perhaps what is missing is the smart mobility aspect of the transportation system and network.
The government and citizens should play their part to realise the initiative.
FARHAN KAMARULZAMAN
EMIR Research
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times