If only to let me remember the hard work, the good times and a whole bunch of words which I once remembered.
Thanks Joce, Kat, Vincent! (: We did it!
Monday, November 08, 2010
Loved Our Ride.
thank you jocelyn before starting on our project we researched on our TR1 Copenhagen Denmark you may ask why Copenhagen well Copenhagen is THE bicycle city in the world in fact the International Union of Cyclist or UCI for short officially recognised Copenhagen as the first and currently only bicycle city Copenhagen has won acclaim around the world for its pro-cycling policies and its efforts to promote a strong cycling culture where else can you find a city where 9 in 10 residents own a bicycle and more than 1 in 3 who cycle to work daily for Copenhageners cycling is not just a recreational activity or an occasional means of transport cycling is a way of life so what makes Copenhagen so SPECIAL after analyzing the growth of a cycling culture in Copenhagen we identified 2 main approaches taken from 2 alternative perspectives namely city planning and changing mindsets I will now elaborate on our first approach city planning in Copenhagen cyclists are seen as a major group of road users and the government has accounted for their welfare in the urban planning and transport policies respectively firstly Copenhagen has a comprehensive cycling network which directly connects cyclists to their destinations in the shortest time and the shortest distance this network is over 300 km long or about 6 times the length of Singapore with such a network cyclists are able to get around the city without any risk of interacting with the street traffic which is safer other safety measures put into place by Copenhagen include speed limits on residential roads and warning signs in areas with heavy bicycle traffic as well cyclists are allocated special benefits such as being able to travel in both ways on one way streets as well as being given preferential treatment at road junctions on the other hand car demand is lowered with a high road and vehicular tax as well as a reduction in the surface parking lots available to vehicles the ubiquitous city bicycles also provide a convenient bicycle sharing system for all Copenhageners to enjoy however there are some drawbacks to this approach namely cost in Copenhagen over one-third of the total road budget is allocated to the investment and maintenance of the cycling network which is costly as well by giving so much preferential treatment to cyclists it may strain relationships between cyclists pedestrians and motorists as cycling paths vehicular roads and pedestrian walkways all compete for space thus this approach may be too costly and undesirable to work by itself another approach used by Copenhagen addresses another facet of the issue namely mindsets in Copenhagen there is a strong public education campaign which culminates in the annual bicycle to work campaign this campaign was started in 1997 and now has over 110,000 participants having such campaigns lets the government encourage cycling as well as teach residents the right way to cycle the result of this is a halving in the number of serious accidents over the years as well as a more enjoyable ride overall the government also regularly seeks feedback from its residents through the annual bicycle account however there are some drawbacks to this approach as education must be backed with the proper physical infrastructure as well education is a long term approach which requires time to set in herein lies Copenhagen's formula to success it combines the two approaches and addresses the weakness of one with the strengths of another there is also a strong emphasis on safety which is intricately linked to both approaches thus it is crucial that all approaches work in tandem to achieve the optimal result and a multi-pronged approach namely education enforcement and infrastructure will be better able to create the unique local cycling culture that Singapore wishes to cultivate now I'll pass the time on to Kathleen who will speak about the situation in Singapore Kathleen please.
If only to let me remember the hard work, the good times and a whole bunch of words which I once remembered.
Thanks Joce, Kat, Vincent! (: We did it!
If only to let me remember the hard work, the good times and a whole bunch of words which I once remembered.
Thanks Joce, Kat, Vincent! (: We did it!
