SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) plans to increase the country’s cycling path network by a third to 1,000km by 2040, according to the Land Transport Master Plan 2040 (LTMP 2040) released on Saturday (May 25).
This will build on an earlier commitment from 2013 to construct 700km of cycling paths by 2030, LTA said.
So far, more than 440km of cycling paths have been built, it added.
To meet that goal, the authority will place cycling paths on both sides of the road in new development areas such as Kampong Bugis, Tengah and Woodlands North Coast.
LTA will also explore facilitating cycling in private residential and industrial estates.
It noted that “only about half of intra-town journeys (are) made on foot or by bicycle today”, adding that “there is room for more to embrace a healthier lifestyle”.
“By expanding our active mobility network, we will not only improve first and last-mile connectivity, but also make it more convenient for people to reach everyday amenities in their nearest neighbourhood centre by walking and cycling,” said the authority in the LTMP 2040.
Expanding Singapore’s cycling path network is part of LTA’s vision to create a “45-minute city with 20-minute towns”.
This means that commuters need only a 45-minute journey to get to work, and 20 minutes to reach amenities within residential towns.
IMPROVING BUS SPEEDS
Another goal of the LTMP 2040 is to improve bus speeds. To that end, LTA said it will progressively introduce more “Transit Priority Corridors” (TPCs).
TPCs are dedicated bus lanes and cycling paths for travel in and across towns, with the first example already implemented on Bencoolen Street.
LTA shared that other areas that could have TPCs are Robinson Road, Loyang, Tengah, Jurong Lake District and Woodlands North Coast.
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LTA said that the North-South Corridor, to be completed in 2026, will be Singapore’s longest TPC and will save bus passengers up to 15 minutes of travel time. Other bus priority measures such as sections of bus-only roads and bus signal priority are also being explored for the North-South Corridor.
On its website, LTA notes that the North-South Corridor was originally conceived as a 21.5km expressway to connect towns in the North to the city centre, but was redesigned to become Singapore’s first integrated transport corridor featuring continuous bus lanes and cycling trunk routes.
MORE INTEGRATED TRANSPORT HUBS
In terms of public transport infrastructure, besides the construction of more MRT stations and a potential new rail line, the authority will look to construct new integrated transport hubs to provide seamless connections between bus and train services.
LTA said these fully air-conditioned facilities will be connected to malls “to give convenient access to amenities as a part of the public transport journey”.
Such facilities are being planned at Beauty World, Bedok South, Hougang, Jurong East, Marina South, Pasir Ris, Tampines North and Tengah.
Integrated transport hubs are already under construction at Bidadari, Buangkok and Punggol North.
