Singapore Cyclists Challenge Laws
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Posted On :
Dec-23-2011
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Article Word Count :
611
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Singapore folding bike riders want a lifting of restrictions that allow only one folding bike on a bus at any time. They also want to see the abolishment of government-imposed limits to the number of days cyclists can take their bikes on trains in order to commute to and from work.
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After a couple of years of being held to government controls over the rules for cyclists in Singapore, many are calling for a change.
According to a recent news report in the Singapore News, many of the country’s cyclists are calling for a review of the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) foldable bicycle scheme, introduced in 2009.
In her article for the Singapore News, Ellen Choo says the government’s current folding bike policy or “scheme” currently has a “peak hour restriction, and allows only one folding bike on each bus at any one time.”
Choo interviewed 42-year-old Max Lam, vice-principal of the School of Science and Technology, travels to work on his folding bike. He says he’s a huge fan of riding his bike but doesn’t want to be told when he can and when he can’t ride it to work or for pleasure.
"I think it is a very viable alternative, though I own a car,” said Lam. “Depending on the weather, it becomes a choice that I'm able to exercise - whether I wish to work out a sweat today and cycle to school. Or if the weather's cloudy or nice, I can choose to exercise and be conscious of the environment and cycle to work."
Choo writes that Mr Lam prides himself on being part of a “thriving community of professionals and executives - many of whom have adopted the bike as a serious mode of transport to work. A typical route, she suggests, involves cycling from home, then boarding a bus or train halfway, and completing the remaining journey to the office, on the bike.”
But the folding bike community said that unlike in cities like London or Taipei, where the cycling cultures are much more vibrant, Singapore's foldable bike policies leave much to be desired. On weekdays, for example, cyclists with bikes are only allowed to board the buses from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 8pm till the end of operating hours, which, as Choo points out in her article, that leaves out the bulk of the working crowd.
The bikes are allowed all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. But at any one time, only one unit is allowed to be on a bus, which puts rides on a first come, first ride basis.
"Since large luggage and big prams are already allowed on public transport during peak hours, we think that our folding bikes, being a lot smaller than a large luggage or a big pram, should be allowed as well because we probably won't be adding to the current squeeze," Vivian Yuan, owner of digiNEXX, a store that sells foldable bicycles, told Choo.
Some riders site the policy as an inconvenience when a family wants to have a cycling day out, as only one member is able to load his or her bicycle on a train at any given time. The rest will have to wait their turn to board the next few buses or trains.
Mrs Yuan and others are pushing for a lifting of the one-bike, one-bus restriction.
"If a family wants to go to a leisure place to cycle together, a child would have to take the bus himself and then meet his parents at the destination. If you lift the restriction to perhaps two bikes on one bus, that means a parents can follow the child (along on the trip)," she said.
Both Mrs Yuan and Mr Lam have raised their concerns to the LTA at a transport focus group session, conducted by the National Climate Change Secretariat, according to Choo’s article.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Singapore Cyclists Challenge Laws_123681.aspx
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Author Resource :
To know more about Folding Bike please browse Folding Bike
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Keywords :
Folding Bike, Folding Bikes, Folding Bicycle, Folding Bicycles,
Category :
Business
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Business
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