Today was a very special Sunday for Fusionopolis. Early morning starting from 7:30am, this quiet office building was already buzzing with many cyclists in colorful outfits. It was heart warming to see around 60 members from LovecyclingSG group came all the way from all over Singapore to support the ISUDA test ride. We had also discovered the fastest, the smartest and the prettiest ISUDA riders!

Francis and co-founder Mike Zhan was there to explain the pilot. Bike share, a growing trend internationally, is a great way to provide “last mile connectivity” to compliment public transport facilities. For example, the test route (blue route in the map) from one-north MRT station to the Biopolis building Amnios is about 900 meters apart. It takes 15-20 minutes if one walks, or 3-5 minutes on a bicycle. The distance is a little too far to walk. But it is too short to be worthwhile for the wait for a shuttle bus.

We want to stress test the bikes to make sure it is in perfect working condition before the pilot. 20 LCSG members make 40 “sweat free” trips in total. The fastest trip was made in 2.5 minutes and the longest 5 minutes. The longer time is due to an unusual traffic light delay at the junction of Portsdown road and one-north link. The feasible time saving is about 12-15 minutes. The big advantage of bike share is the fact that the user ride his or her own bike, it is not dependent on the schedule or routing of bus. The user is free to use it anytime and free choose a route.

LTA statistic shows average door-to-door trip by car is 25 minutes while by public transport is around 48 minutes. A 12 minutes time saving on both sides of a typical MRT trip will be able to save the commuter 24 minutes in total. Such scenario will make public transport (+ share bike) much more attractive compared to drive.

Bike share also helps to improve cyclist safety by increased visibility of cyclist on roads. This is known as “safety by number”; the more cyclists seen on roads, the safer it is for the cyclist and other road users. More cyclists on the road also helps government justify more investment for safe cycling infrastructure.

Read more at smallwheelbigsmile
Diane’s nice blog entry