While the number of cars grew by 10 per cent between 1997 and 2204, the number of car trips has stretched by 23 per cent , averaging 21,000 km a year, said Transport Minister Raymond Lim on Wednesday.

With rising affluence, the car population has grown steadily to 850,000 today - by almost 40 per cent in the last 10 years.

'Not surprisingly, all these have resulted in the crowded roads and frequent peak our congestion that we see today,' said Mr Lim during a visit to Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway on Wednesday morning.

This cannot go on growing, he warned, given that 12 per cent of the land in compact Singapore is already used up for roads.

'It is a growing challenge to keep our roads smooth flowing. On the one hand, road growth is slowing; on the other hand, we are packing more and more cars onto our roads,' he said.

While the Government will continue to build new roads and expressways, he said going ahead, the pace of road expansion will have to slow down, from 1 per cent a year over the last 15 years to half the pace over the next 15 years.

Increasing road capacity and deploying traffic engineering measures will not in themselves guarantee smooth flowing roads, he said noting: 'Additional lanes and new roads attract more traffic and congestion soon returns. As a Time Magazine writer put it, 'traffic is like water; it oozes across all available surface.''

He gave notice to motorists that as more and more Singaporeans own cars, they will have to accept the reality that it is not possible for them to drive their cars to and from work every day.

'The only way to move large numbers of people efficiently in our densely populated city is by public transport. It is therefore critical that we make public transport much more attractive to the vast majority of Singaporeans, including those who have access to car,' said Mr Lim.

The other trade-off car owners will have to accept is more extensive ERP coverage and the higher charges, if they want to smooth-flowing roads.

Even with more extensive ERP, the current vehicle growth rate of 3 per cent is not sustainable, given the already large vehicle population and the slowdown in road growth. We have to lower vehicle growth, added Mr Lim.

Against these stark realities, the Government is taking major steps to make public transport a choice mode of travel, with an integrated bus and rail system, more frequent services and seamless transfers.

It will also be spending billions of dollars to double the rail network, enabling many more people to benefit from fast and reliable MRT connections. These measures will transform our bus and rail services, reduce journey times and increase comfort and convenience for commuters.

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