My friends, I've recently came across this video and this youtube channel. He seems to be a singaporean trying to be a copy of Adam Something. I've selected some of his points and have listed my responses to them (many of them from the perspective of someone who HAS lived it) For context: "MRT" basically refers to singapore's metro system
section 1
> how this town made cycling attractive
> only 3% of trips done by bike
> thrice the national average
Implying the national average is 1%. And 3% doesnt seem very attractive to me, lol.
section 2
> cycling paths separate from motor traffic
These "cycling paths" are nothing more than painted lines on a pavement. Everybody ignores them. And they're basically the hated sharrows for pedestrians. Nobody wants to share their space with a cyclist. Funny enough, he himself admits theyre crappy
section 3
> there are activities everywhere!!!
Yeah. so does everywhere else in singapore.
section 4
> it's faster than driving
Doesnt account for movement speed, and only accounts for number of stops you're forced to take. Also doesnt account for congestion along the bike path, which for reasons I have mentioned earlier, we have reasons to expect is non-zero. And this is in a scenario where infrastructure is, by his admission, HEAVILY RIGGED in favor of bikes
> the route is beautiful, you see low rise flats, etc
> it's also much more enjoyable than driving
... and it's full of pedestrians on your path. And drivers would also see those sights. But you know what part of this delightful experience a driver would not get? 32 degree weather. LOL!
section 5
> Some people think that cycling cannot be done, because one will be drenched in sweat after traveling long distances, and that's true !
It's also true for short distances, fool. Singapore is HUMID.
> "Given that the furthest residential block from the central station is just 2km away, bicycle trips are usually under 10 minutes each way , which happens to be within Singaporeans' preferred duration for cycling trips."
Short = good, that is all. And another thing, who the hell is coming up with these surveys? I was unable to find any information on the way the survey was structured, so for all you know the survey was as follows:
WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED DURATION OF A CYCLING TRIP?
1. under 20 minutes
2. 20-40min
3. 40-60min
4. however long it takes to cycle from North Korea to Norway
> "A bicycle alone cannot replace a car for long distances, but a combination of modes can. Few will be willing to cycle from their home in Tampines to Jurong East everyday, but cycling a short distance to the MRT? Not a problem at all!"
True. But here's the problem: the singaporean metro system is a great success, and has been adopted as a means of transportation by vast numbers of its people. As such:
1. Bike + train only works because nobody else does it. The train capacity isnt enough for everyone to bring their bike.
2. The train capacity isnt even enough to bring your bike in at peak hour. It's barely enough for people standing during peak hour.
3. Buses and trains only allow folding bikes, which runs counter to his cheap "utility bike" of the intro. More cost to the commuter too.
> parking spaces for bikes.
Imagine, if you would, we allowed a restaurant to use the space for a patio...
Section 6
> stop blaming the weather
But what if the weather can reasonably be blamed?
The following chart shows the temperatures for the month of june in singapore and amsterdam for the month of june. The tips of the lines represent record highs and lows, and the upper and lower bounds of the box represent average highs and lows. The Y axis is degrees celcius.
As you can see, an average singaporean day is somewhere between "retardedly hot" and "record breaking" by amsterdam standards. Shall I discuss humidity?
> "and with morning temperatures hovering at a comfortable 28-30 degrees celsius, sweating isn't an issue at all. Unsurprisingly, this falls within Singaporeans' preferred temperature range when cycling of 29.5–31.5 degrees celsius"
First and foremost: That's about the morning, the coolest part of the day. And that's scraping the ceiling of the """preferred range""". Now let's take a look at the rest of the day:
Again, who the hell is coming up with these surveys? I was unable to find any information on the way the survey was structured, so for all you know the survey was as follows:
WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED RANGE OF TEMPERATURES WHEN CYCLING?
1. 27-32 degrees celcius
2. 23-38 degrees celcius
3. 39-44 degrees celcius
4. THE SURFACE OF THE FUCKING SUN
> "you'll get used to the temperature!!! JUST STOP HANGING OUT IN YOUR AIR CONDITIONED BOXES!!!!!!"
This sounds like NJB's gym of life bullshit. And another thing: outdoors, everyone's sweaty, all the time.
He also blames people for using "bikes optimized for speed" at the cost of utility for feeling like the temperature is an issue.
section 7
> just wear everyday clothes
Was not too stupid in my opinion, but considering that you'd be spending more time outdoors, wouldnt it be a good idea to try mitigate it a bit?
section 8
Here he argues that people cycle more in Tampines because it's convenient.
> Because cycling is the quickest and most convenient mode of travel in Tampines (except for car owners), it isn't uncommon to see people making the switch from taking the feeder bus to cycling the last mile on their own.
> A study by NTU proves so, with 28% of people cycling formerly being bus passengers, who have probably discovered that cycling is faster.
Cool. Now tell me what percentage of bus-riders this corresponds to. I have no doubt that cycling may be better than the bus in some cases, but is it fair to say this applies to everyone? By this logic, buying scratch tickets is profitable, and can even replace regular jobs (only if you count the people who won.)
>The next step forward in getting more people to cycle, is to further discourage driving within the town, by taking away car lanes and converting them to bus or bike lanes so that other alternatives become even more attractive.
Folks, I was wondering when the obligatory cars-bad would come in. But let's talk about it. Other alternatives, like the MRT? Like the bus? And this does sound like an inversion of "induced demand" to me. They made infrastructure for bikes so good - but nobody's biking. We just need ONE MORE MEASURE to make biking nicer or ONE MORE MEASURE to make driving worse, BRO!
section 9
> there are other places as hot as singapore, and have cycling (specifically seville)
He doesnt provide evidence of them being major cycling places, and even if they're hotter, singapore is in the tropics. The humidity would kill you.
section 10
> people used to cycle, but then they made stroads, which are bad!!! Nobody wants to cycle on a STROAD!!!
People cycle less because we now have shit like BUSES and the MRT, as alternatives. The most effective way (though unpleasant) to encourage people to cycle is to ban buses and the mrt, and then jack up the tax on petrol, and the COE price by 20x, if not outright banning private cars
He also gets mad at the government for regulating cycling, like banning oversize bikes; large groups of cyclists; and not wearing a helmet. He calls them carbrains and says this is a reason why people don't wanna cycle.
