April 9, 2019

In solving urban transportation challenges, what approach can Singapore use to optimise cycling paths planning?

Singapore’s high population density along with increasing car usage comes with transportation challenges such as congestion and air pollution. This explains the government’s vision of a car-lite society and its promotion of cycling as an alternative mode of transport. While the rise of dockless bicycle-sharing in Singapore helps attain these goals, indiscriminate parking of these bicycles also poses a problem. To address this, the government passed the Parking Places (Amendment) Act, which was assented to by the President on 11 April 2018. The act imposed parking regulations on dockless bicycle-sharing operators so as to facilitate more sustainable growth in the use of shared bicycles. As part of the transition towards a car-lite Singapore, the government had also launched the National Cycling Plan (NCP) in 2013. The NCP aims to create a safe and well-connected cycling network throughout Singapore by 2030, allowing commuters to easily cycle from residential areas to key nodes like amenities, employment zones, and train stations.

In the study, “GIS-MCDA Based Cycling Paths Planning: A Case Study in Singapore” (Applied Geography, 2018), Dr Cao Kai (NUS Department of Geography) and Ms Terh Shin Huoy (NUS Environmental Studies Programme) propose a Geographical Information System-based multi-criteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) framework to guide cycling paths planning. To test the framework, the authors used ArcGIS to model a cycling network in the Woodlands Planning Area (WPA), which took into account the preferences of 202 members of the public, a government planner, and a transportation expert who were asked to rank various criteria for cycling paths.

The authors conclude that the GIS-MCDA framework has potential to be incorporated into Singapore’s urban planning process as it can enhance transparency behind participatory planning, guide future land development plans, and reconcile the preferences of various stakeholders when planning cycling networks in Singapore.

Read the article here.