On Thu, 27 Jul 2017 10:13:53 -0700, sms
wrote:

On 6/15/2011 12:33 PM, Jay Beattie wrote:
On Jun 15, 8:58 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:

In other words, Singapore proves that a city can have lots of
bicycling without weird multicolored bike lanes, barrier separated
"bike tracks," special traffic lights, etc.

snip

Well, then there is Holland with separate bicycle facilities. If you
believe that is the proper model, then current efforts in the USA are
woefully inadequate. We should be condemning rights of way to put in
extensive bicycle avenues -- maybe through your living room.

And, as usual, Frank begins with a false premise. Singapore does NOT
have "lots of bicycling," and the level of cycling has declined greatly
in the last three decades. It's no unlike China, where a big decrease in
bicycling was caused by big increases in mass transit infrastructure.

In Singapore you also have the near constant heat and humidity which
discourages bicycling.


Actually Singapore has considerable bicycle activity. There are, for
the size of the island a very large number of bike shops.

For locals the major use is probably riding from their National
Housing flats to the closest bus stop or subway station to take public
transport to work.

Interestingly, the one category where bicycle ridership has increased in
Singapore, is among non-resident foreign workers. It's interesting
because in the Bay Area you see the same thing, but here it's because
public transit is so poor, while in Singapore I suspect it's more the
cost of public transit.

I don't think so. At least I lived or worked in Singapore for more
then 20 years and way back when people used to bicycle to work but
remember, Singapore had the fastest growing economy in the world in
the early days and their public services improved probably faster then
any country in history. The only section of Singapore that you can't
reach easily and quickly is the extreme western quarter where the
factories and heavy industry is and you can get there also except the
busses don't run as frequently.

As for foreign workers the bulk of the foreigners working in Singapore
fall into three groups. Malaysians who live in Malaysia and commute to
work in Singapore - it is said that there are a million workers who
cross the causeway from Malaysia each morning. The Philippine House
Maids who all have hand-phones but are never seen riding a bicycle and
the Bangladesh (largely) construction workers who send their money
home to their wives.
--
Cheers,

John B.