Search the Community

"Some gantries already have an electronic board alongside the gantry serving the same purpose but, as Transport Minister Raymond Lim conceded in Parliament earlier this year, these are sometimes too small for the motorists to read . . . The tab for the 70 gantries therefore comes to $4.55 million." So wrote Maria Almenoar of Straits Times 12 May 2008. you say leh?

Today ST sport page stated : Chelsea boss, RA is willing to come out 80 million pound for Barcelona striker Lionel Messi. S$250,000/- per week just by kicking football...... Drogba is leaving at the end of the season....

Wish you all good luck in the coming TOTO, 10 million draw this Thursday, 21/02/08. The long que had started........... Today, Monday TOTO draw had been brought forward to last Saturday and thereby, those queing to buy TOTO starting from today is for Thursday draw. Just spend $20/- during lunch and , queing for 30 minutes for 4 system 7 and 2 ordinary of $3/- (quick pick). .................................HUAT AH.................................

The Million Dollar Question ... ok lah, not really million dollar but its still on people's mind ... If you are in the market for a new car soon i.e. within 9 months, would you buy it now or wait? If wait, why? Considering that OMV rebate in March plus announcement of new COE quota to be released in April, timing for purchasing a new ride is becoming more critical. Anyone care to add these 2 cents worth?

Jan 22, 2008 Govt earned $990m extra from GST hike By Lynn Lee THE Government earned an extra $990 million last year from the two-percentage point hike in Goods and Services tax. The bulk, $540 million, came from local consumer spending, while the remainder was from foreigners. A large portion of the collection went back to Singaporeans. They received a total of $630 million in cash, to offset the GST increase to 7 per cent in July 2007. With other measures like utility rebates, to help people adjust to paying more GST, the Government will spend $1.17 billion by the end of fiscal year 2007 on Mar 31 this year. Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times. This means for 1 year the 2% can generate around $2 Billion. I thought they basic reason for the hike is to help the poor ? And don't you think $2 Billion a year to help the poor is way too much ? Who needs charity anymore if indeed every cent is spent on the poor and needy.

Transport grievances one hot issue at dialogue session By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 07 October 2007 2003 hrs SINGAPORE: Transport grievances were one of the main issues dominating a dialogue session held after Transport Minister Raymond Lim's community visit to the Thomson Division. "We don't mind, as vehicle owners, to pay increased ERP (fees). But we are frustrated when we pay the ERP (fees), we don't see any ease of traffic flow on the CTE," complained a resident. The answer? It may be frustrating, however there is no one magic solution but a range of measures adjusted over time as the situation changes. Mr Lim explained: "As a first step, we will do what we call traffic engineering solutions. So if you look at the Central Expressway, we have widened it through the years and only recently we did it again. "What's the problem here? Let's say we widen the road. When we first widened the road, the traffic might improve. When it improves, what happens? People who previously didn't drive on that road, the Central Expressway, will now drive on it. "So, some say, 'build more roads'. Yes, build more roads, that will help. Some say, 'better public transport'. Yes, better public transport will also help. But at the end of the day, you also still need this traffic management, which involves not just the ERP, but as you know in our system, we also have COE." But it wasn't just about the ERP. A whole range of transport issues came up during the dialogue session. There were suggestions ranging from having premium bus services to 24-hour senior citizen concession passes. There was also a suggestion to have the Public Transport Council (PTC) review public transport fares only every four years, just before the elections. But, Mr Lim said: "If we freeze the whole thing for four years - no fare increase - the pressure will say, 'why not extend another four years?' The experience of other countries is that the minute you allow the fare increase to be politicised, that over time, the service of your bus standards goes down. If they can't get these returns to renew the bus fleet, the bus fleet will start to shrink and as the bus fleet starts to shrink because they don't replace it, there will be more and more overcrowding. So the situation gets worse and people will complain." - CNA/ir --------- he's merely lip sync-ing everything we all know and predictable.

Three medium to large universities and three specialist institutions would be right for the time the population hits six million - one university for every million people. How about a roof for the homeless and destitute in sillypore How about 1 hospital for every 100,000 people How about 1 bus for every 1000 working person How about ...... (your wish list) http://news.asiaone.com/News/The%2BStraits...y%2Bsector.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/02/business/02toys.php Mrecalls one million toys By Louise Story Wednesday, August 1, 2007 Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, is recalling nearly one million toys in the United States Wednesday because the products' surfaces are covered in lead paint. According to Mattel, all the toys were made by a contract manufacturer in China. The recall, the second biggest this year involving toys, covers 83 different products, manufactured between April 19 and July 6. Many of them feature "Sesame Street" and Nickelodeon characters

It had been 10 yrs since Toyota launched it 1st hybrids till recently to reach 1 million hybrids vehicles. Will you consider a hybrid in future? From http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/07/0607.html Tokyo

TOKYO (AP) -- Nissan Motor Co. said Friday it was recalling more than 1 million vehicles because of problems with the gas tanks. The recall affects 1,015,306 units of the company's March and Cube subcompacts that were manufactured between 1991 and 2000, spokeswoman Pauline Kee said. The vehicles can have small cracks in the gas tanks that leak fuel fumes. Nissan will repair the problem free of charge. "It creates an uncomfortable smell," Kee said. "It's not a safety problem." Nissan expects the recall to cost 3 billion yen (US$25.6 million; euro19.2 million). About 4,000 of the vehicles were sold overseas, mostly in Southeast Asia. About 600,000 of the affected vehicles are expected to still be on the road.

http://motoring.asiaone.com.sg/news/20070212_009.html Million sign e-petition against UK road pricing - Feb 12, 2007 Reuters More than a million Britons have signed an online petition calling on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to abandon plans for a national vehicle tracking and road pricing system. The experimental "e-petition", hosted on Blair's 10 Downing Street website, passed the million mark at the weekend after a surge in support. "The petition gained 300,000 names in five days," said Nigel Humphries of motorist pressure group the Association of British Drivers (ABD). "Road pricing is just another tax -- and a tax that is unfair, expensive to administer and difficult and inconvenient to collect," he said. The petition, which closes on February 20, was submitted by ABD member Peter Roberts and calls on Blair to abandon road pricing and instead "concentrate on improving our roads to reduce congestion." The government is considering proposals to charge motorists for every mile they drive, using satellite tracking technology, with prices depending on the location and the time of day in a bid to counter a growing congestion problem. Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander told the Times the petition would not deter him from commissioning road-pricing trials. "The response to this petition makes the case for more debate, not less, on the issue of road pricing," he said. "It makes me more determined to debate the real issues about how we tackle growing congestion." Initial estimates suggest a tracking scheme could cost drivers up to 1.34 pounds a mile to drive in the busiest areas at rush hour. Transport chiefs argue that unless radical action is taken there will be gridlock on some of Britain's roads in 20 to 30 years. The government has pledged 10 million pounds to fund research into road pricing. Last December a government-sponsored report on transport led by former British Airways chief Rod Eddington said charging motorists to use roads was the only viable option.

21st Feb 2006 6.15am. Enzo crash in 200mph. The driver was missing [confused] Photo : http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/more-on-the-enzo-incident-on-pch-with-photos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php ://http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/news/m...tos-156121.php article: http://www.nbc4.tv/traffic/7292691/detail.html TV news footage: http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TZW0IJFHIW2K3NTV9OW2BA4AJ

100,000,000 Nissans produced Posted Jul 24th 2006 5:56PM by Alex Nunez Filed under: Time Warp, Etc., Japan, Nissan Nissan has announced that this past June marked an important milestone in the company's 73-year history: 100,000,000 vehicles built. It all started in 1933 when Nissan, under the name "Jidosha-Seizo Co., Ltd" (Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd), manufactured its first automobile, a Datsun 12 (example above). The following year, the company name was officially changed to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. In 1935, the Yokohama Plant became the first facility in Japan to mass-produce automobiles. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Nissan produces cars and trucks in facilities worldwide, and aims to continue improving quality and productivity as it sets its sights on future milestones. 100,000,000 is a lot of cars. Many of them were and are basic transportation devices used by the masses. Some of them have become icons in their own right, and today there are future stars on the horizon, demonstrating that as fun as it can be to reflect on the past, Nissan continues to look forward. Congratulations are in order. http://www.autoblog.com/2006/07/24/100-000...ssans-produced/

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/051018/3/3vqmp.html Got this from Yahoo news.sg... Singapore affected??

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/cor...ew/8917/1/.html