Traffic Control

To say Singapore is efficient is stating the obvious. Everybody has heard about the amazing public transport system, but I have found it goes a long way beyond just public transport. I have to deal with three organisations in order to get my bike to Dili, the Land Transport Authority (Think RTA, nationally), the Autombile Association of Singapore (Think NRMA, nationally) and DB Schenker.

I qued at the LTA for about 30 seconds, to speak to an information officer wbho directed my query and provided me with a que ticket. I waited about 2 minutes for my ticket to be called, the person I spoke to  listened, asked a few questions and knew exactly what I needed (Insurance, a Permit and an autopass). he provided me the address of the AAS and a slist of things I neededto obtain and explained the overall process. He also promised to look into the viability of export by ferry to Batam for me.

I qued at the AAS for about 30 seconds, spoke to an information officer who directed my query and provided me with a que ticket. I qued for about 5 minutes. The AAS provides the insurance and the ICP. Once I have these I can get the Autopass from the LTA and ride my bike out of customs.

I discussed my plan with the Denise at the LTA, who informed me that it was no longer possible to take vehicles on the ferry to Batam due to previous illegal importing/exporting through that route. We spent another 2.5 hours on her phone and internet trying to determine the best way for me to get my bike to Dili.

Then the Insurance quote came through. I was warned, insurance for a year can cost upto $6000 SGD for a standard car in Singapore! One weeks insurance cost would be $270! What a good way to ensure traffic control and make sure that there are not too many cars on the road, and that the cars on the road are paying there way. Now consider how much registration/insurance a singapore motorist is paying per KM of road that teh Singapore government has to pay for, and also the fact that alsmost all major roads are toll roads, charged on a KM travelled basis. Think about the ramifications if this principle was applied to Australia, where the road network is soooo marge larger. User pays works for me.

Eventually we got a hold of Mary Choo at Schenker who is now looking into forwarding the bike to Batam for me in order to avoid storage costs here in Singapore and avoids paying the insurance costs. Fingers crossed.