Just last year, I headed out to one of the cycling specialist shops and got myself a nice bike and kitted it out with skinny road slicks and disk brakes for on road commuting. I figured that, with the kind of frequency that our public buses are scheduled (according to SBS’ online bus tracking service, over 20 minutes between buses during off-peak hours) I can probably out-cycle the bus to most destinations within a 10km radius of my place...
Indeed as it turns out I arrived for appointments earlier that I would had I waited for a bus, and I had quite an adrenaline rush from the commute as well.
See here for the full post of the experience of a local blogger. The non-cyclist is often surprised when one hears of anecdotal evidence that cycling is faster than taking public transport. Many cyclists have recounted how the only way their friends were convinced was to see it themselves! The fact is, Singapore's public transport system may be efficient, but our high population density necessitates for many bus stops and traffic lights along our roads. Hence buses need to come to a start and stop much more often, and they can only maintain a speed of 50km/h for a short period of time.
Paul Barter notes that even cycling at a very gentle pace (10 km per hour) from Tampines MRT can get you quite far: in 12 minutes you could reach anywhere in Tampines and even to Simei.
See also his interesting presentation: Let's Take Bicycles Seriously.
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