Project Background

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is ramping up the building of our cycling network over the next 10 years under the Islandwide Cycling Network (ICN) Programme. This will enhance connectivity for those who use active mobility devices such as bicycles and Personal Mobility Devices (e.g. e-scooters, unicycles, hoverboards) to get from one place to another, and bring about greater convenience to all path users. LTA will also continue to facilitate improvements to enhance safety on footpaths for all path users, including the widening of footpaths.  

In the meanwhile, as active mobility modes become increasingly popular in land-scarce Singapore, all path users – active mobility device users and pedestrians – need to be considerate, be more aware of their surroundings and to always give way to one another.

Increased frequency of path icons to serve as a constant reminder of segregated lanes is proposed due to its proved efficacy from our experiment results. Icons that depict life cycle are more representative and invoke empathy, subtly nudging users to stay within lanes in consideration for others.

There will be 5 specific “stages” that will be represented in the icons, with each icon placed about 20-25m meters apart. The different stages are; Infant, Child, Youth, Adult holding phone and Senior, in that corresponding order

By observation, the three main limitations in current practices on shared unified path have been analysed to be: (1) no convention as to which side to move to when avoiding AMDs, (2) no explicit rule to ring bells, and that (3) bell ringing is stigmatised.

Hence, based on existing conventions and gaps, recommended good practices for path sharing are proposed:

1) Ring your bell politely, especially when encountering clusters of pedestrians.

2) If in clusters, give way by moving into single file towards the left when other users are approaching either from in front or behind

How to interpret the sign:

Keep left

1. Ring the bell

2. Walk in a line/ single file

3. Give way

1) E-brochure complements generalized case depicted in signboard to inform and reinforce proposed path sharing rules in five other typical instances. The e-brochure can be promulgated online to the general public and be adapted to various social media platforms.

2) To expand the reach of LTA beyond pre-existing followers on their social media platforms, a meme challenge is proposed. The memes that are created would be related to the suggested brochure content, and focuses on typical use cases. Participants are then invited to repost the memes on their individual Instagram/ Facebook stories before creating their own, which are not necessarily related to path-sharing, and then tagging LTA. This is to capture networks of followers and engage them in perusing LTA’s social media posts which consist of the brochure content.

These include accordion-like lenticular boards depicting a main character who journeys in tandem with path users, with illustrations which show how he interacts with other path users in the five typical use cases. As usual travel along the path, the installation serves as an analog form of a loopable animation informing and reminding of appropriate path behaviour.

Each panel measures 1m x 2.5m, and is tilted at 45 degrees, an angle that reduces the total length of path required for installation, without requiring too much clearance width wise on the sides of the foot path. This angle has also been tested to ensure visibility of frame transition even on the extreme periphery of the path.