Pitch
PIE gets you from Tuas to Changi, easy. But what are you missing between those two points? Switch 4 wheels for 2 and watch a world unfold.
Description
Make life easier/more difficult for Singapore?
Easier
Describe the change
More and more people will move to Singapore: that's what we want, and that's what we welcome. One challenge is for transportation infrastructure to renew itself fast enough, to make rush hour a pleasant start to the work day.
In the future, we might have so many transport nodes that your home could be equidistant to two train stations, your doorstep mere metres from a bustop. In the future, we might shuttle from bustop to train station, with apathy for whatever is in between.
More than 'moving' people, transport should also connect people, especially if we think the kampung spirit is eroding amidst city bustle. And people can move themselves AND bulid connections with a bicycle!
Not only is bicycling eco-friendly (burns fat, saves money), it also revitalizes neighborhood spots & businesses that would otherwise have been neglected by drivers on main roads.
Bicycling is great for fitness. More importantly, it can be a boon to mental health and the social cohesion of local communities.
How will this change impact Smart Nation Singapore in 2030?
When Singapore moves to be a more bike-friendly city, as it is already doing under the Sustainable SG Blueprint, her citizens will reap the socio-emotional and health benefits of the increased agency over their mobility. And this mastery isn't just for the urban triathlete, as the many kopitiam uncles (and kindergartners) on their two-wheelers attest.
Smart Nation Singapore would then meet the challenges of developing a viable and attractive bicycling city, such as profuse perspiration and a lack of dedicated bike lanes.
Smart Nation Singapore would, by 2030, facilitate crowd-sourced, user-generated infrastructure (such as relevant apps, hobbyist websites), on top of the architectural infrastructure being laid by LTA/URA/NPARKS.
It may seem counter-intuitive to propose an 'old-school' mode of transport here. But it is precisely with Smart Nation Singapore's capabilities that such a change can be harnessed with what currently seems to be radical: Bikes for all!
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