In his comment, he stated that any rise in the ERP charges or any control in the car population may only provide a temporary relief to the traffic problem in Singapore.

While raising ERP charges may trigger a knee-jerk effect on motorists in the short run, once people accept the costs as part of their expenditure, the traffic volume is likely to return to its current state.

Like MM Lee, I disagree that continuously raising ERP charges or slapping motorists with extra charges would be an effective solution in the long run.

Traffic congestions are most severe during the peak periods which are caused by commuters travelling to and from work. As Singapore's economy continues to grow, more jobs would be created and more people would commute to and from work. Therefore, no matter what measures we take, it would likely be temporary as the increase in the volume of commuters would most likely neutralise it in time.

Improving the quality of public transport is likely to help in the matter. However, as the sheer volume of people travelling in and out of the city centre continues to rise, there is a limit to how much improvements that can be made in these areas.

In my opinion, the only way to ease the traffic problem is to deal with the cause of the issue, which means a fundamental paradigm shift needs to be introduced. This shift should start by asking ourselves a very simple question: 'Is it really necessary for people to travel to work?'

Over the last 10 years, especially in the US, technology and infrastructure have been developed to reduce the necessity for employees to travel to work. In a concept known as tele-commuting, a series of technologies has been created to allow employees to access resources and communicate securely from the comfort of their own home. Technologies such as e-mail, VPN and video-conferencing allow employees to communicate, collaborate and work without having to leave home.

Even an advanced technology to allow employees to access their office computer desktops remotely and securely from the comfort of their own home is now commonly available.

The beauty of most of the technologies required for working remotely is that they only need a broadband Internet connection and some simple software.

Being one of the most wired places in the world and with mobile Internet costing as little as $20-$30 a month, and getting cheaper and faster, Singapore is extremely well positioned to take advantage of these technologies.

In fact, many employees of US companies in Singapore have been tele-commuting for years and this scheme has saved many of these companies millions of dollars in terms of office rentals. Adoption by local enterprise and organisations to date is, however, limited.

For some local enterprises, the reluctance to adopt this scheme could be because it takes more than technology. A change in the way these organisations function may require some tweaking. A new trust needs to be established between employer and employee. Employees need to be empowered and are required to take charge of their own work.

Incidentally, in my opinion, changes in working mindset could improve productivity and increase efficiency whether or not a company is planning a tele-commuting scheme.

The Government can certainly play a part in promoting the adoption of tele-commuting schemes. The Government should invest in public education, and tax incentives and other programmes can be set up in order to guide and encourage local enterprise in implementing the scheme. The Government should also subsidise the implementation of the technologies required for remote access. After all, easing the traffic problem would solve a huge headache for the Government.

Jose Darwin Lim Yip Hin