My daily commute by bicycle is the best health insurance I can think of. No insurance policy can guarantee my health in the future, at best insurance can only cover the medical cost when my body goes wrong. Such scenario is far from desirable, I don’t want to get pay because of getting sick, I want my health.

On the contrary, pedaling my bike is promoting the critical circulation systems in my body, bringing the essentials to where they are needed and at the same time, carrying the waste out of my body (sweating is good for me!). Statistically speaking, my body condition is similar to those 10 years younger. I can enjoy different types of food, I can enjoy to play catching with my kids while others of my age would rather watch.

I believe the idea of insurance has been over sold. Many are concern that they don’t have enough to cover their old age medical bills because that’s what statistic suggested. But most people do not relate this to another piece of statistic, which shows nowadays 6 out of 10 are slowly losing their condition due to lack of exercise. The minority practicing daily exercise is belongs to another group, which stays fit and require less medical care. Therefore as long as I keep cycling everyday, I am not too worry.

A short and sweet artice about the ROI (Return On Investment) of biking in city. I certainy hope Singaporean (gov. & ppl) wake up to this overlooked opportunity to improve Singapore even better.

Here are a few quotes:

“Odense Cycle City, an ongoing, multi-million kroner effort to improve conditions for bicycle commuters, is proving to be a good investment.”

“The programme cost the city DKK 20 million (EUR 2.68 million) and has transformed Odense into one of Denmark’s most bike friendly cities, increasing the number of two-wheeled commuters in the city of 186,000 by an estimated 25,000 per day.”

“Odense estimates that over the past four years, a decrease in the number of sick days has saved DKK 33 million (EUR 4.4 million) in health service costs and unemployment benefits.”

read more:
Biking helps cut down on sick days

Bicycle? an important transport mode? in London? Unbelievable!

London is one of the earliest mega-city to embrace private car as the dominant transportation. It is strange for them to “move backward” after they’ve been there. This is precisely the point I’m trying to make; they’ve been there long enough to feel the pain of motorized transportation. When private automotive could only afforded by a few, it was OK for the most and it was a nice privilege for the few. But when more people can afford to drive a car, the road becomes congested and more dangerous, air and noise pollution become worst and everybody suffer. London learn the lesson and is now full speed in corrective mode.

“Cycling has an important part to play in making London more sustainable. It is a quick, healthy, affordable and non-polluting form of travel that has the potential to increase capacity on London’s busy roads. More cycling will lead to less congestion by reducing the number of short car trips. It will also help reduce air pollution and bring improvements in London’s street environment.” – Quoted from Transport for London

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Dig around in the site reveal a lot of facilities available for cyclist in London. This was unimaginable five years ago, just like Singapore now. Cycling in London used to be an extreme sport in the sense that it is equally life-risking. I used to commute cycle in London, it was as exciting as cycling in Singapore today. Then I was riding a road bike and had to negotiate my way amongst the traffic. Today I am using a folding bike and that make it easier to “chicken out” from the road and hop onto the pavement. Personal sustainability takes priority, I suppose.In the case of London, the authority took the lead (and the risk), Mayor Ken Livingstone”s team created the condition to make public transport and cycling an easier choice, and driving a more difficult choice. Still remember we laugh about their semi-manual congestion charge scheme verses our fully automated, state-of-the-art ERP system? Well, it turns out their “primitive” system is cleaning up the congestion faster. The difference is not so much in the system, it’s the vision and determination behind that drives the result. In London the vision is towards a car-free, healthy, clean environment AND improve transportation. In Singapore, as of today, we are still too afraid of upsetting drivers. But the case in London shows, many drivers can be converted to cyclist happily, if the condition is right.

When will our authority wake up to the fact that bicycle should play a significant role to the our (better) health, (cleaner) environment and (more efficient) transport?

images link from http://www.tfl.gov.uk

Stop dreaming of a cycling map for Singapore, start helping to build one by sharing your favorite on this site:

www.bikely.com

Already a few Singapore routes are there:

• Orchard Hotel to Singapore-River

• Singapore River route

• Paya Lebar MRT East Caost Park Super Bikeway

• Depot Road to Science Park II and Heng Mui Keng Terrace

• Pasir Panjang Univ

Signing up is easy, just fill in your user name, password and email here:

http://www.bikely.com/join

You will have immediate access to create new route.
Simple steps to create new routes:

1) click on the “submit route” menu along the top of page

2) select Draw it on the map using your mouse »

3) you will be seeing a google earth map, on the left of the map is the instruction:

First, enter “Singapore” into the search box, hit search and click on “singapore”, the google earth map will move to show Singapore.
To start drawing, hit the Create Route button above (ALT-C).
Drag the map to navigate it, or use the arrow keys. + & – zooms in and out. Navigate the map so that it shows the starting point of your ruote.
4) To start adding points to your path, simply click on the map. You can still drag the map around as normal.
If you make a mistake, press ALT-X (or the X button below) to delete the selected point.
To save your route, hit the Save Route button at the top right of the screen. Save your path regularly during its construction.

5) when you first save your route, you will be given the opportunity to name your route and have the choice of making it Visible to all or Under construction (hidden).

More detail instructions can be found here:
http://www.bikely.com/tutorial

So what are you still waiting for, create your cycling route now!