Watch me bicycle 20 km during morning rush-hour traffic in Singapore, from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 to the National University of Singapore (NUS). In an effort to avoid having to ride on busy roads, I used the Komoot app to plan the route, which was completely new to me. I was in for a bit of an adventure, with nice Nature encounters of otters and monkeys, and less pleasant urban encounters of pedestrian overhead bridges and a muddy hill where I slipped and fell.

The destination for my bicycle ride was a Carbon Symposium held at the NUS School of Design and Engineering on 2nd February 2023. So, what better way than arrive for this conference in a ZERO carbon way, namely by bicycle :-) Of the 70+ participants, it seemed like I was the only one to have walked-the-talk by arriving on bicycle ;-)

Highlights from the video include:
0:03 Starting the bicycle ride in Ang Mo Kio
1:15 Upgrades to my Pike 3, so it feels like a real Brompton
2:15 The intersection it takes more than 3 minutes to cross by bicycle!
3:44 Traffic jam statistics
5:49 Shade bicycle track below MRT train line
10:24 Entering Bishan Park
11:45 Beautiful Lilly pond
12:08 Otter spotted at the burrow (smooth coated otter)
14:55 Otters hunting and eating fish (photo from the other day)
17:07 Hoardings for road works in Singapore are done so neatly :-)
26:32 Finally another bicyclist on the road in car-lite Singapore ;-)
29:12 1st overhead pedestrian bridge. A lot of work with a 30 kg bike!
33:10 Finding the park connector network (PCN) from MacRitchie Reservoir park
37:34 Monkeys. Passing a big group Macaques monkeys sitting on the pavement.
40:28 2nd overhead pedestrian bridge. A lot of work with a 30 kg bike!
47:09 Turning right with cars. Faster!
52:03 Ascending muddy hill path/steps. Difficult. I slipped and fell!
55:24 People walking their dogs
55:48 GoPro battery died. Map explains 6.3 km without video.
56:37 Arriving at the retrofitted buildings, SDE1&3
56:52 Before and after photo of the retrofitted buildings.
57:18 Statement by deputy prime minister of Singapore about the retrofit
57:36 Map + ride statistics for this 20 km bicycle ride

The map bicycle route can be viewed at this Strava link:   / strava  

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Later the same day, the low-carbon retrofitted NUS SDE1&3 buildings, where the Carbon Symposium took place, were officially launched and officiated by the deputy prime minister (DPM) of Singapore, Mr. Heng Swee Keat. My company (incl. myself personally) had been the energy efficiency consultant for this project, so it was a pleasure having it officially launched and getting much praise. Both the DPM and the Chancellor of NUS stated that this building retrofit serves as a role-model for the rest of the university, Singapore and the South-East Asian region at large on how to retrofit the existing building stock, making the buildings both more beautiful and much more energy efficient and high performing. Of course, a lot of carbon is saved by retrofitting buildings instead of tearing them down and building something new. Read more about the project at: https://www.ien.com.my/post/launch-of...
The presentation videos from the Carbon Symposium can be watched here:
   • Carbon Symposium: Session 01  
   • Carbon Symposium: Session 02  

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A bit more details on the recent study on traffic jams that found that Singapore drivers annual spend 150 hours of additional hours in traffic during peak hour traffic. For comparison, the figures from neighbouring countries are 159 hours (Kuala Lumpur), 192 hours (Bangkok), 214 hours (Jakarta), and the top scorer 241 hours (Manila). Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malays...
https://paultan.org/2023/02/20/tomtom...

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The video was filmed using a GoPro 8 mounted on a chest strap.

Enjoy the ride!
:-)