Khaw: Cycling can be 'viable transport option' for S'pore
Singapore can make cycling not just recreational but a "viable transport option" for short trips, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday.
In a blog post titled "4 Wheels Good, 2 Wheels and 2 Feet Even Better", Mr Khaw wrote that cities are increasingly finding it important to make themselves friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.
Here, short cycling trips to the supermarket, coffee shop, hawker centre or the nearest MRT station must be made safe and pleasant, he said.
Singapore's planning has always embraced "active mobility" - where people walk and cycle - as seen in schemes like the Park Connector Network.
Mr Khaw added that Singapore is "quite walkable", with good pavements along most roads, pedestrian priority at traffic junctions and sheltered walkways.
But it lags "way behind" cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where cycling and walking make up more than half of the modes of transport.
Cycling makes up just 1 to 2 per cent of transport modes here.
CYCLING NETWORK
Mr Khaw highlighted the National Cycling Plan, which aims to have a 700km cycling network in place by 2030.
"Next year, we will have developed 100km of intra-town cycling paths in Yishun, Punggol and Bedok," he wrote.
"Eventually, all 26 HDB towns will have similar networks to connect homes to neighbourhood centres and MRT stations."
Singapore is also exploring bike sharing schemes and increasing safe cycling education programmes, such as the Safe Cycling Programme for Youth for secondary school students.
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