Bicycle Lanes In Singapore?

Singapore's only bike lane@ Coastal road

I last wrote about having bicycle lanes on the road way back in 2010 and 2011. No one really paid attention then. Then earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came out promising to build thousands of miles of new bike lanes to get the Brits moving and healthy after months of coronavirus lockdown.

His pledge came after plans to force restaurants to display calories on menus as part of a bigger battle to help the British lose weight. This is after an analysis by the Organization for Economic Development released in 2019 found that Britain was the second fattest nation in Europe, with almost a third of the population classified as overweight.

ST 1/8/2020 on page A23

Being obese makes one more vulnerable to many diseases including the coronavirus.This is especially true for Johnson himself after his own experience with Covid-19. His life was in danger and he had to be treated in intensive care largely because he was overweight. He had previously dismissed the idea of government intervention over what the public should eat, but changed his mind after being hospitalized.

When Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was still alive, he did consider special bike lanes for cyclists in Singapore. He had in his younger days cycled to university in Cambridge and had to also cycle about five miles uphill to visit his girlfriend and later wife as she lived in a different hostel.

From -Hard truths to keep Singapore going

"It's better for everybody's health, it's better for the environment and it's certainly better than having the place or having the roads overcrowded with cars, taxis, buses."

From -Hard truths to keep Singapore going

During the circuit breaker/ lockdown in Singapore, it was a dream come true for cyclists, as there was so much less traffic on the roads. My sons and I went cycling almost daily as we did not have to worry about sharing the roads with the cars and buses. Throughout the world, bicycles were selling like hotcakes, including Singapore, as many people rode bikes for both transport and exercise.

Some of you reading this may say that it's too hot to ride bicycles to the office or to run errands. Yes, in our climate you will will definitely need a shower after riding to work. But it will also not to be too cold when it rains. So we will need to have toilets and parking spaces for bicycles. A small price to pay for a cleaner and greener environment.

Many drivers will not like this idea (there are many drivers who hate cyclists if you look at the online forums) of bike lanes on our roads. Well, you can't please everyone.

Newly appointed transport minister Ong Ye Kung, are you reading this?

*A big thank you to Jeffrey Keng. The very first picture right at the top and the one just above was taken from a video by Jeffrey Keng on 22/9/18 while we were cycling along Coastal road.