tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999911.post7105947742066886046..comments2023-05-22T17:24:30.332+08:00Comments on Cycling in Singapore: "Will LTA ... come up with a coordinated national plan?" (Parliament)Sivasothihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15602079103603710402noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999911.post-80265234122356385842011-06-02T12:39:22.357+08:002011-06-02T12:39:22.357+08:00" To accommodate dedicated cycling tracks or ..." To accommodate dedicated cycling tracks or lanes on the road, you would have to give up a certain space for other motorists and other usage."<br /><br />I might be nitpicking on this quote but to me it suggests a certain framing of the issue. It seems to implicitly assume that cyclists and 'other motorists' are fixed, disjoint sets. But don't some motorists also cycle sometimes? And shouldn't a large part of promoting cycling be about encouraging motorists to become cyclists? It's simply not true that it<em>has</em> to be a trade-off. It's not obvious that having bike lanes will, for example, increase congestion. To see why it might not, think about how making cycling safer will encourage some motorists to become cyclists. This might alleviate rather than increase congestion. Then again, it might not. It depends on how many motorists are incentivised to become cyclists this way, compared to the space given up on the roads. But Teo seems to think it's obviously the case that more road space for cyclists = less road space per motorist. He doesn't seem to be taking into account at all the effects of making cycling safer on reducing demand for motor transport.<br /><br />So it seems to me that MoT is more concerned with increasing safety for current cyclists, rather than making cycling a more popular mode of transport. But if they really believe on all that rhetoric about land scarcity and so on, MoT should be looking at increasing cycling share instead of just accommodating existing cyclists. Paris, London, NYC and other large cities are encouraging cycling precisely because of land scarcity issues---bike lanes can transport far more people per unit area than car lanes can.Ponder Stibbonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18387561315863534902noreply@blogger.com