By Rosli Khan
Every time I visit Penang, I always stay in George Town. My trip feels incomplete if I don’t walk from my hotel to some of my favourite cafes, restaurants or pubs.
There are so many charming streets in George Town, making it puzzling why some of them have been overlooked, neglected and not regenerated.
There’s enormous potential for regeneration and restoration on this heritage site.
Once done, George Town would be comparable to cities like Regensburg in Germany, Hoi An in Vietnam, or Gyeongju in South Korea.
No pedestrian streets
Given the volume of pedestrians in town, the Penang Island City Council should consider turning some of the popular streets into pedestrian-only zones. To begin with, there isn’t much traffic in the heritage areas of George Town, anyway.
Several heritage buildings and old shophouses have been beautifully converted into boutique hotels, cafes, restaurants and bars. Some of these hotels are truly attractive and offer excellent accommodation for tourists visiting the city.
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In many of my previous visits, I’ve noticed that most tourists prefer to explore George Town on foot. This time around, I observed that the number of walkers has grown even larger.
However, due to the narrow roads serving the heritage buildings and old shophouses, there are hardly any pedestrian pavements available. On both sides of these narrow roads lie an open drain system, essential for our tropical rain.
Additionally, on-street parking is still allowed, and the narrow streets are occupied by plenty of cars (and motorcycles) on one side of the road. As a result, very little space is left for pedestrians, forcing them to walk on the road, competing with cars, motorcycles and the occasional trishaw or bicycle. This is far from ideal for a Unesco heritage city, and unsafe.
My preferred route
My preferred hotels in George Town are usually on Argyll Street, Chulia Street or Love Lane.
I genuinely appreciate the “Malaysia, Truly Asia” or muhibah (goodwill) concept atmosphere of Chulia Street, where a Japanese-run four-star hotel stands next to an old madrasah, just a short distance from a Buddhist temple and a wine shop. This multicultural street is unique, reminiscent of the old Straits Settlement cities of Malacca and Singapore.
Not far from a side road called Jalan Masjid is the famous Reggae Club, another watering hole called Pokok bar, a four-star Swiss Hotel, and a well-known Vietnamese restaurant.
The combination of Chulia Street and Love Lane offers the best streetscape in George Town and serious efforts should be taken to pedestrianise them.
I imagine that if Chulia Street is turned into a pedestrian and public transport zone, it could resemble Oxford Street in London – maybe even better, given the added charm and aroma of Asian cuisine.
A popular side road off Chulia is the famous Love Lane, which, given its many live music cafes and restaurants spilling onto the walkway, should also be pedestrianised in the style of Carnaby Street in London.
Clearly, these two tourist-popular streets in George Town do not need to be swarmed by private cars for the businesses there to thrive.
In tourist areas in Europe, the emerging trend is to walk or hop onto a bus or tram.
George Town should emulate this concept by turning some of these streets into pedestrian and public transport zones.
In fact, Penang Road once had road-based trams running alongside other road vehicles. The partially buried tram rails can still be seen along the road today.
Perhaps George Town should reconsider bringing the tram back. It does not seem a bad alternative to erecting elevated light rail transit lines between heritage buildings and along narrow roadways.
After all, the majority of these buildings and most of the old shophouses may not be able to withstand the disruption posed by the elevated LRT construction.
What should not happen is for these buildings to be torn down to make way for high-rise condominiums under the guise of modernisation brought by the LRT.
What George Town really needs immediately is for several streets to be pedestrianised, complemented by a pedestrian-friendly public transport system, such as road-level trams or hydrogen powered bus services. – Free Malaysia Today
Rosli Khan, a traffic planning consultant, has a masters in transport planning and a PhD in transport economics from Cranfield University in England.
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