Transportation Problems and Policy: Singapore: where an intelligent transportation system can work…

ITS operation control center (OCC): runs all day to help the road commuters through electronic signs and help in case of an accident occurs.
i-Transport: a wide informative screen shows the views of different traffic locations around Singapore along to help in monitoring the traffic, tunnel, highway and to ensure a quick responds for any accident immediately.
Express Monitoring and advisory System (EMAS): a panel distributed in highways to in inform drivers of the traffic condition and advise them to shift the direction in case of an accident occurs.
Junction Electronic Eyes (J-Eyes): cameras distributed along signal intersections to monitor the traffic.
Green Link Determining (GLIDE) System:  a sensitive system works together to ensure the most effective green light for vehicle and pedestrian movement.
E-Traffic Scan: it use Taxis on roads and highways to collect traffic data like speed and flow conditions from the Taxi’s GPS.

via Transportation Problems and Policy: Singapore: where an intelligent transportation system can work….

Uber officially launches in Singapore after four weeks of testing in its first Asian city – The Next Web

Uber says that the city-state is a technology hub for the region and has long welcome innovation. What’s more, it says that it has realized that citizens are tired of driving themselves to work and have embraced the service as a way to get around in comfort and style. The unpredictable weather also makes Uber much more appealing, especially if everyone is going after the thousands of taxi cabs all at the same time.

via Uber officially launches in Singapore after four weeks of testing in its first Asian city – The Next Web.

Vehicle Types

Black Our default option will get you the classic black sedan or Van curbside within minutes. Note: choosing “Black” and being picked up by a Van will not charge you our Van rates. Seats up to 4 people.

Pricing
Base Fare (Start with this fare) S$7.00
Per Kilometer (Speed over 18km/h) S$2.25
Per Minute (Speed at or below 18km/h) S$0.85
Minimum Fare S$12.00

Flat Rates
Central Business District to Changi Airport S$50
Changi Airport to Central Business District S$55

Sample Fares
Clarke Quay to Marina Bay Sands S$16
Sentosa to ION Orchard S$32
INSEAD to Bishan Public Library S$34

Fares currently account for ERP costs.

via Uber – Singapore.

Commute between Tiong Bahru and NUS (9.4km) would cost between S$28.15-40.90 (Uber) vs. S$8-11.20 (regular taxi), about 3.5x more.

New vocab (08/03-08/10/2012)

Hokkien

tiong tombs
hae mee prawn noodles
char mee fried noodles
mee hoon wheat

Malay

bahru new
Singapura/सिंहपुर Singapore, lion city

Mandarin

紧急 jǐnjí urgent/emergency
讯号/信号 xùnhào/xìnhào signal
优等 yōuděng first-rate / top quality
酱油 jiàngyóu soy sauce
口粮 kǒuliáng ration
互动 hùdòng interactive
前夕 qiánxī eve / the day before
法院 fǎyuàn court of law
组装 zǔzhuāng to assemble and install
作秀 zuòxiù to show off (loanword, from English “show”)
留意 liúyì to take care / mindful
数字化 shùzìhuà to digitalize / digital (lit. to make into numbers)
货币 huòbì currency
象征 xiàngzhēng symbol
戛然而止 jiárán’érzhǐ to roll to a grinding halt (idiom)
支付方式 zhīfùfāngshì payment method
怀疑 huáiyí [to] doubt / to suspect / skeptical
拌面 bànmiàn lo mein, noodles served with soy sauce etc
板麵 bǎnmiàn board/block noodle dish, often in soup
叙利亚 Xùlìyà Syria
埃及 Āijí Egypt
伊朗 Yīlǎng Iran
伊斯兰 Yīsīlán Islam
莫斯科 Mòsīkē Moscow
俄罗斯 Éluósī Russia
阿富汗 Āfùhàn Afghanistan / Afghan
利比亚 Lìbǐyà Libya
联合国 Liánhéguó United Nations
欧盟 Ōuméng European Union / EU
欧元 Ōuyuán Euro (currency)
胡锦涛 Hú Jǐntāo Hu Jintao (1942-), President of PRC from 2003
温家宝 Wēn Jiā Bǎo Wen Jiabao (1942-), Premier of PRC from 2003

Misc

Peranakan Chinese / Baba-Nyonya descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles British statesman, founder of British Singapore in 1819

Singapore: National Day

Singapore’s 47th National Day marks Singapore’s independence from Malaysia and consists of a “Parade” with lots of marching, music and singing, salutes, performances, and fireworks. Unfortunately, you need an invite or ticket to attend, so we watched the stream from our apartment by downtown Singapore (oh yeah– hello from Singapore!). Interestingly, many of the local people do not recognize National Day as a holiday — rather, it is mostly wealthier people, civil servants, and foreigners who partake. The locals told us that it’s essentially a government function. What we saw affirms this too; aside from the flags and banners everywhere, life and traffic seemed to continue as usual. Our morning started with a huge procession of red-wearing Singaporeans next to our apartment walking off to somewhere, and we got very excited for the big day, but the places we went did not seem to be affected by the holiday at all. We learned that educators and officials are invited to the parade, and I wonder who else. I originally associated National Day with US’s Fourth of July, but after some research, I deemed it to be more like a festive version of the State of the Union address. Except it seems that this year, they aired the National Day message a day early (transcript here). So there goes that theory.

[Photo credit: 1 2 3]

Either way, it was very interesting to see Singapore show off its various groups of armed forces and performers of the various southeast Asian cultures, to listen to the singing in Singapore’s 4 national languages, and to see the sea of some 27,000 people in the world’s largest floating stadium. So many colors, so many styles! I guess the mix of cultures is their culture. Despite the utter lack of Caucasians, there is a touch of British influence to much of what we see in Singapore, and it is even apparent in the show, when performers wearing traditional southeast Asian drag dance to rap. And since Singapore’s such a tiny place, we could hear the fighter jets and fireworks from our apartment as we caught them on the TV.

Anyway, happy National Day!