| Abstract | Full Paper | PDF | Printer friendly format

Pagre 1 of 6
| Next |

1. Introduction
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has ten faculties offering undergraduate and graduate programmes. The buildings of the different faculties have clustered in different parts of the campus depending on whether they are science, engineering, arts, business or medicine-related. Also, the seven residence halls are scattered all around the campus. Recent changes in the curriculum of the programmes offered by the faculties have emphasized a broad-based education, cross-disciplinary interaction and increased flexibility for students to determine their own individual study program. This inevitably requires the movement of students within the campus and campus transport is presently being provided by three separate internal shuttle bus (ISB) services that ply the campus. However, the limitations of the current road geometry, an undulating terrain, and a mature campus, have severely constrained any further increase in the frequency of service of the ISB or expansion of their routes. It has been suggested that an alternative non-motorized mode of transport be considered to alleviate current peak hour traffic jams and to cope with future increases in cross-campus transportation demand. The introduction of cycling routes is considered as one alternative to reduce the peak hour ISB jams.

Figure 1. NUS Campus Map
1.1 Cycling as an alternative
The consideration of introducing cycling routes to alleviate the student flow problem within NUS is motivated firstly by the encouraging results from studies of successful cycle route implementations within various European Union countries. Secondly, students and employees of the campus will stand to gain from the various social and environmental benefits associated with commuting via cycling. Thirdly, the introduction of cycling routes would encourage students to change their mode of transport, and would split student traffic that is now confined to that of using the ISB alone; thereby effectively alleviating current peak hour traffic jams. This also aid in coping with the future increases in cross-campus transportation demand within NUS.

In many developed countries, particularly the European Community, cycling policy has in recent years gained wider appreciation as a cheap and affordable means of transport, particularly suitable for short trips (1). Cycling routes of varied magnitude have been successfully implemented in the European cities of Bilbao, Ferrara, Dublin and Geneva, amongst others (2). It is also seen that cycling can contribute much to the enjoyment of travel and to the mental as well as physical health of riders (3).

The list of presumed or proven advantages to be gained from cycling has never been established exhaustively. However, from various literature sources, the following benefits are derived through the implementation of cycling routes within NUS campus:

• Economic benefits including reduced traffic congestions in terms of occurrences and durations, reduced parking problems and savings in the cost of providing and maintaining car parks. All these imply more efficient use of land.
• Social benefits include reduced community severance and increased community interaction. Interaction of students and staff alike from different faculties may be enhanced depending on the pattern of the route networks.
• Ecological benefits include reduced noise and air pollution, enhanced preservation of greeneries and improvement to the attractiveness of the campus. In other words, the quality of campus living will be enhanced, providing the community with a conducive and pleasant environment to work in.

Pagre 1 of 6
| Next |