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A day full of Speed Bumps makes you Hump.

So let’s be frank, Speed Bumps are annoying. And personally i think it gives more trouble rather than a solution.  Speed bump functions as a traffic calming feature of road design used to slow traffic. It prevents cars from speeding unnecessary for the safety of pedestrians and helping to reduce speeding which assumes to lessen the noise pollution too within neighbourhood.

Talking about Town Planning, or more specifically traffic planning, traffic calming features (there are several types, the most common in Malaysia is speed bump) , is one of the crucial planning element, in which to my assumption, from my observation of road bumps placement around Petaling Jaya, local authority should know better of how the placements of bumps affect the overall traffic by contributing to travelling time. This is a chart i spotted from Portland’s Bureau of Transportation, kind of assist you to understand the decision factor for placing bumps.

As much as i acknowledge the reason of this “sleeping police” but the disadvantages of speed bumps can be severe too:

• Slow and hazardous response time of Emergency Vehicle. In terms of affecting emergency services, the London ambulance service estimates that 500 lives are lost each year due to increased response time associated with traffic calming.
• Increase noise by both traversing over the bumps and by using more engine revs.
• Inappropriate design may cause damage to vehicles and its passengers, In Situ Speed Bumps often tear off easily.
• Lack of Maintenance and Poor visual indication is dangerous to users. Most commonly happen in Malaysia, a lot of local authorities simply just In Situ a speed bump a specific place without any reflective strips or paint on it, how would motorist know about it?
• Improper design / too many speed bumps annoy passengers on travelling time.
• If it’s really time consuming, may divert traffic to parallel residential streets. Refer to the study done in Portland that drivers prefer going to alternative route after the speed bump is installed, suggesting time consuming over road bumps as unfriendly.

The Polluter instead!

Speed Bump causes Pollution too. Solid road humps cause a significant increase in air and noise pollution. A Transport Research Laboratory study conducted emissions tests on roads with a 75 metre road hump spacing. This found that the ‘stop/start’ pattern of driving:

• Increased Hydrocarbons emissions by 70%-100%.
• Increased CO2 emissions by 50-60%
• Increased CO emissions by 70-80%.

So here comes an innovative solution, still in research though and not commercially available i suppose. The idea of energy generative through kinetic motion has been long started since the industrial age, this includes energy generating shoes or energy generating dancing platform, and now here it is.

Power Generating Speed Bump ,Motion Power, developed by New Energy Technologies (US Company) that can harvest energy from speed bumps. It obtains the kinetic energy that occurs when automobiles slow down or stop at speed bumps. However the product is still at research phase because of the insufficient amount of energy that can be secured compared to the installation cost. MotionPower™ is best suited for high traffic locations where vehicles are already slowing down. Example installation sites include toll plazas, rest stops, highway off-ramps, truck depots, and traffic calming zones. There are 3 type of products, namely Express, Auto, & Heavy, each serving different type of vehicles. For more info, Visit their website HERE

 How it functions

It consists of a series of panels set in a pad virtually flush to the road. As the traffic passes over it, the panels go up and down, setting a cog in motion under the road. This then turns a motor, which produces mechanical energy. A steady stream of traffic passing over the bump can generate 10-36kW of power.

The ramps cost between £20,000 and £55,000, depending on size. The bumps can each produce between £1 and £3.60 of energy an hour for up to 16 hours a day, or between £5,840 and £21,024 a year. Energy not used immediately can be stored or fed into the national grid.

Energy Output and Applications

The electricity energy harvested is estimated 100kWh for 10 thousand cars going through, which does not suggest a lot but it can power up devices nearby such lighting, roadway signage, checkout counters or even LED lights embedded into the road bumps.

Yes i know you wonder, how much energy harvested actually? As extracted from Motion Power’s Website, the potential electrical energy production.

 So there it is, does it sound new to you? Not for me as i am already expecting several other applications in the research phase too, the concept is relatively easy to understand about, translating kinetic energy into electricity and store it. Anyways but i sincerely doubt this will be applicable in Malaysia, the cost for now is just too high and takes too long to be recovered i suppose. Nevertheless, it makes you think what other related applications can be done

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(Disclaimer# I am writing this as a active user in public transportation and without any specific professional experience in public infrastructure design so please spare me if you think my comments are insensible and kindly comment on this post to start some constructive discussion!) Credits to GoogleImages#

THE INTENTION

It was at the recent National Forum on Public Transportation where i was trying to picture the pessimistic impression on public transport today. Well it was a good meet with SPAD, Malaysia’s Land Transportation Authority describing the authority and legislation hierarchy behind this issue. But until when one of them in the panel is someone from DBKL who says he is the one in charged in plotting out the bus routes, i threw him the question;

“Sir so may i know who is the person in charged of designing these bus stops? What measurements were taken to study the practicality of our bus stops? Is it just a prototype being “cloned” and put in every destination thoughts?”

So well he did tell me oh yes the bus stops location are strategic covering certain radius etc, and all the answer he gave me is, “WE FOLLOW UNIVERSAL DESIGN”. After all the long explanation i gave on why our bus stop is not practical, you threw me back this short answer and i knew that there is a big issue for overlooking this little aspect.

I think this is what he meant by.. “Universal Design”

THE SIGNIFICANCE

Yes it may be a little aspect for them because the whole masterplan is still about bus routes, connectivity and bus services. Allow me to clarify why this so called universal design doesn’t sound sensible at all. Since he also added on that it’s the same design we normally see on the street. First of all i don’t even know there’s such thing as universal design for bus stops, do i see the same design of bus stop in Malaysia with other country? Anyways before i start rambling on the issues of our bus stops, let me put up my notion why do i think that the significance of bus stop design has been compromised.

Most of us highlighted about the condition of bus and travelling, that’s ok, but a person could spend up to half of his journey waiting in the bus stop, and when it’s a “bench” which defined by two pipes and inappropriate sunshading design that exposes heat and glare to the users, don’t you think the “service” of the bus stop deserves the same amount of attention as to bus conditions?

Bus Stops can be landmarks, and also a resemblance of community integration, it’s a common space, and it’s meant to be respected and shared. It is to be Safe, Convenient, User Friendly, and a healthy place to be.

What If a simple Bus stand couldn’t even stand for itself? Epic Fail*

But why design a space that is such an eye sore even people just can’t understand how to appreciate it? It is the Beginning and the Ending of a journey and despite rain or shine, this simple shelter has to be seriously considered on it’s capability to provide a comfortable waiting area with much to offer it’s rider to wait patiently.

REALITY & PERCEPTIONS

But here’s the reality and perceptions in Malaysia today. Even if you are a Malaysian reading this right now, most likely you are starting to trace back the last moment you step into a bus stop (or was there even one?) or trying to illustrate what does it look like since you are stuck in the thousand tonnes of steel cage most of the time, well! Here’s something like it.

So you see, there is insufficient space for the passengers waiting area.. even bus stop is placed at the wrong direction. And as for most of us know, you have all kind of spams of unauthorized advertisements and shark loans on basically any surface they can find and basically almost any previous metal items will be stolen or anything like public phones or LED advertisement board will be stolen too! The Perceptions of the public towards bus stops has gone to the drain; What more to expect the design of Bus stands to respect the rights of disabled group of people (TheStar article HERE) ?

Unsafe with the current snatch theft issue, Vulnerable to Heavy Rains, Not comfortable with glares and unnecessary heat gain, Dirty benches, damaged amenities, and poor lighting provision exposes user to potential victim of rape cases..Smokers dominate the place..  poor proximity of bus stops and poor pavement build up area to the surrounding nearby locations.. and the list goes on.

The latest bus stop at Jalan Ampang.

The current reality also appears in academic field where i was trying to find any scholar articles but the only one seem to be associated is  Renewable Energy integrated system with the bus stop. It’s funny that i have seen that research done in my university USM too. But beyond that, i found nothing even close to the research of design of public works such as bus stops. (Kindly share with me if you have!)  There’s still a long journey for us to understand the interaction of end users with bus stop.

Such as,What kind of Seats for Bus Stops? What are the age range of most bus stops users, average waiting time to date etc etc? What i am really curious about is if there is anyone done a research on end user usage to the seats in bus stop, in Ergonomic terms. Are there really more people prefer to sit? How low the sit should be? How big dimensions should it be? Some ad hoc bus stops also put up swings! who knows maybe we can even put rocky chair.. or even some monkey bars..

So here for example you have leaning chair or the leaning rocker fitted to the wall which says to be much more “healthy” comparing to the typical office seats everyday, who knows the same goes to the bus stands? But anyway the main focus here isn’t this, just a point to say that we have yet to study on a lot of aspects on these small bus stations, that is still very much underrated in the public transport industry. Another reality, at a serious note is, some bus stops apparently don’t even have a bus stop but just a corner somewhere or out of no where!

And well yes you can see there is no proper rubbish trash bin available too in most bus stops.. ahh but this is a good way of raising awareness of how much trash is littered in bus stop each day. So yes the perceptions of the public towards the bus stop is, Not Safe, Not Clean, Not Convenient (also partly due to the whole public transportation performance), Even not knowing there is a bus stop behind their house! and taking a Bus is Not So Cool. thanks to the public social status that having a car is more luxurious sometimes.

Well, both of the performance of bus stands and public bus must go hand in hand to improve the public transportation sector. All of our bus stop design must be User Friendly, Safe, Convenient, and Encouraging!  So hereby i am proposing my idea on 10 Aspects a bus stand design can be improved on, purely on designing intentions with my architectural understanding, and nothing to do with regulations policies or anything else. And most of these 10 aspects are basic benchmarks!

1. Proper Bus Stop Signage and Route Maps/ Local Maps - It’s frustrating to know sometimes even at bus stands in Malaysia we don’t have the basic indicator we need! The Bus Stop Signage! And also the two simple information maps we need, the bus routes and also the surrounding locations, like 750meters radius map from the bus stand.

2. Trash Bins - Let’s not really talk about recycle bins if we could, but Trash bins as the fundamental amenity a bus stand should have is not even widely seen in Malaysia.  Or Most probably stolen already? So the whole idea is to build an integrated safe design to prevent thief and protecting user comfort.

4. Extensive Shading and Gutter System- Then you have a bus stand that most of the time fail to function when it rains so heavily in Malaysia. The raining condition in Malaysia isn’t just illustrated by a heavy downpour but often accompanied by rushing winds that rains horizontally and wets all the user. The above two picture illustrate how shallow the depth of the sunshading roof is and without a proper seat at all. The recommended depth should be two meters. Another issue is also there should be installation of water gutter (depends on roof design) the whole point is to divert all the rainwater and discharge them via pipes properly instead of dripping from the roof edge which will contribute to the problem overall, that wets the users too. (Wish i have a picture to prove this though)

5. Elevated Platform with Extendable Deck- Elevated platform is important because you want to make sure the bus stand floor level stands out from the surrounding softscape or landscape, because when it rains, and if the surrounding land or road profiles that are low, you can prevent the flood from intruding your bus stand perimeters. However it is also recommended to be above ground 300mm at least, and having an extendable deck, reason is that now people with disability can access to bus much more easily. Also with the extendable deck, then it is easier for wheelchair to access it. I acknowledge current Rapid KL buses alraedy have that capability by unfolding a deck from the bus and after lowering the hydraulics of the bus so just to give convenience for the disabled to get on bus more easily, but there’s no need this hassle to implement in all bus if we have it in the bus stand already

 6. Allocating Bicycle Racks - Simple bicycle racks which can accomodate up to 5 people will be good, there is a lot can be said about the bicycle issues in Malaysia too (I have just submitted an article on cycling) , where if studied well, then can be integrated with public transport via park and ride systems or bike sharing system. However bicycle rack must be designed precisely to improve the safety of the bike. For example is the picture on the left showing the latest bicycle rack Singapore MRT stations, where padlock is used instead of cable lock, cable lock can bse saw off within minutes, i have tried it. Below also shows the latest bicycle rack installed beside a bus stop in Penang.

So these are the 10 aspects of design i recommend, well i could have written even more specifically on each aspect but i will leave it to you to digest and explore yourself Nevertheless, the current condition on bus stops in Malaysia is very disappointing, even the first 4 aspects, as the benchmark, can be hardly found as a mandatory design. When i travel around other countries, one thing i have always look at is public transportation, not only because it’s significant to be a green way of commuting but it can affect communities and social system a lot too.

While there are many aspects to be done from the local authority, various end users are coming up with their own approach to make public transportation journey more comforting, or perhaps some informative application like this.. Done by MypublicTransport.  An interactive map that tells you where is the bus stop and which buses stop there.

 I do write on a couple of blog post on LRT too..

• 5 Ways on how LRT KTM can improve
• And a simple sharing on how LRT can change lives.

But this post has motivated me to design the bus stand i am trying to illustrate with the 10 aspects of design recommendation i just wrote about.. using Google Sketchup and Vray rendering.. So look out!

Feel free to comment and share on what do you think about the bus stops, or anything about public transport in Malaysia!

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Walkability and Identity

To understand what it really means about walkability of a city is to understand how does this term came about. Walkability is mostly western oriented, generally known as the pleasantness of walking in a place, it is part of the architecture element generated through the pedestrian oriented micro-design and micro-management of urban space. However, things in Eastern Cities are very different, particularly SEA countries with multi community cities in particular. The pleasantness of walking is also caught in the issues of the unease of traversing ethnically claimed spaces. Anyone from Kuala Lumpur will know that different areas are generally dominated by different race or business or social landmarks. But the point i am saying here is, to design a walkable kuala lumpur, this is one of the crucial factor to be studied first.  This can be further read at Dr Wong’s PHD Thesis at Melb U.

The Rationale

The reality of  Kuala Lumpur today is not a pedestrian friendly city, as it currently has inefficient design, poor walking pavements and poor respect to pedestrians in terms of traffic planning and spatial distribution. Everything is still very much segregated, not interlink to ease connectivity. This is based on a public opinion survey done by Seranta Awam, and personally i think it’s irrefutable true, let’s not talk about connectivity or walkability but the quality of the walkable pavement itself, as much as it may be upgraded but having hardscape from one plot to another can be somehow quite aesthetically disturbing.

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I Love Cycling. I find it hard to believe going through my university life without a bicycle, It completed my personal development in some ways i did not expect it to be. I bought it during my third semester and it has been 2 years then of full utilization of it.  Well i am still yet to be someone hardcore, who knows everything about bicycle and accessories upgrading etc, but am just a person who cycle regularly in campus and sometimes an extensive distance around the island.

I could be talking about Green or Sustainable Transport or Sports Hobby but the context of this post is about Cycling in University! Again this post is my very own opinion after cycling for almost 2 years, while it could be different with your opinion due to your campus situation etc, but as far as i know UTAR Kampar students will not be stranger to this post.

1. It’s SAFE - I think it’s more to the reason that i’m saying it’s not safe cycling Outside of the Campus. So grab the opportunity now as you are in university compound that gives you somehow a secure location to cycle around, and furthermore i suppose if anything happens to you within the university compound, then you are protected by insurance or whatsoever. It’s funny that in Malaysia context we find that campus life is often portrayed by someone cycling around, but we find it strange to cyclist in the urban setting, safety stereotypes.

2. It’s FAST - One of the ways i manage my time is by cycling again. I need not to wait for transportation, bus will take me 30minutes from my hostel to the school, while bicycle only took 5minutes, because i am travelling from Point A to Point B without stopping and it’s a shorter route as bicycle we can go against the flow of traffic (infact it is safer to do so). I always had a hectic to do list then, especially during lunch break 1 hour i will travel to 3 or 4 points for activities planning approval etc.

3. MONEY Sense - Unless there’s a need, let’s just forget about having a car. Frankly speaking i suggest people to think twice before they own a car, not having it as a basic necessity of transport, you could still depend on public transport and don’t say it’s not reliable until you try it out yourself. The cost of having a car ranges from road tax, maintenance, and also the petrol, and also the jam and all the trouble of finding a car park, on the other hand, as bicycle, i only do change my tyres once in 2 months.. and simple services which won’t cost more than RM50 for the 2 months. I think the thing that i would want to avoid of having a car the most in Campus life especially, is to escape the oblige to fetch people in an outing and people will then assume you are the transporter in any future events.

4. HAPPY Lifestyle - Yes it’s a happy smiling ride. Many reasons to this, you breath in the fresh air, you are not contained in a moving box with your own contented environment, you cycle and you observe the surrounding, you see things that you don’t do when you drive through cycling, And of course you will feel happy for doing good especially to the environment.

5. Style? Trend? Fashion?  - Let’s just say it is cool. Cycling may be one of the things i do that i regard as normal or nothing special, it’s what i do everyday. But for most of my friends in campus who sees this, i would say most probably it has been a “branding” of mine. There are not many active cyclists in my campus then, but i know that i could be the trend setting as i could influence people to join in the cycling hobby or passion.  In short, it feels special for doing things that many others don’t..

My current bicycle is however dismantled and waiting to be brought back to KL to continue its journey here. It’s nowhere an expensive piece of bicycle.. unlike those thousand over bucks bicycle parked at the basement of my hostel too.. But it did sure served its purpose, just make sure the chain is well lubricated with black oil and good brakes, then it feels like the same as others i would say. I remember weeks back then i did a round island bicycle cycling myself.. i ask an uncle who is also a cyclist on his 10k+ Giant branded bicycle,, i asked him for directions which he pointed needed to go over a hill and express doubts over my bicycle to climb it. Well i did, my point is, bicycle doesn’t matter as much as the cyclist.

Well this is an interesting illustration of the benefits of a bicycle.. credits to Google Image.

So there you are, 5 reasons why you should cycle during university life. of course there are so much more to be said why you should be cycling anyways. The picture above also says it all. And there are a lot of things can be talked about. for example how bicycle friendly is Kuala lumpur city in particular.. and also urban solutions for KL bicycling interest.. we have a lot more to work on that.

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