Project Proposal

Motivation

In resource-scarce Singapore, the primary purpose of public transport is to serve residents with efficient forms of mass transportation. Our study goes beyond traditional catchment analysis methods which focus on pedestrian catchment and also consider cycling catchment. This is in line with the LTA 2040 “Walk, Cycle, Ride” Masterplan and the growing popularity of cycling globally. With an estimated public cost of $25 billion and an ever-increasing ridership, it is essential to critically evaluate the full benefits of stage 4 stations along the Thomson East Coast Line (TEL).

Project Objective

To find out the extent to which the opening of TEL Stage 4 stations will increase accessibility for residences, or for visitors visiting the nearby places of interest
To make a comparative analysis of the implementation of TEL Stage 4 stations with the implementation of the cycling routes in the same region.
To identify the limitations of our scope and suggest recommendations for future works

Data

OpenStreetMaps Data Layers from GeoFabrik
- Road Layers
- Building Layers
- POI Layers
LTA Data Mall
- Bus Stop Usage
data.gov.sg
- Bus Stop Locations
- Planning Subzone Boundaries
- Subzone Population

Scope of Work

Thomson East Coast Line Stage 4 Stations (with exception of Founders’ Memorial).

We carried out 2 methods of analysis, by using a circular buffer and network analysis.

Circular Buffer Approach

This is the simplest, yet the most naive method, to deduce the catchment areas. We created a circular 1 km buffer from each station, to find the number of residents in the buffer area, assuming residents are evenly distributed.

Network Analysis

The next approach is based on the network analysis method. Instead of assuming a naive 1 km buffer, our catchment varies between multiple modes of transport along physical pathways or roads. In this case, the modes of transport include cycling in heavy traffic, cycling without heavy traffic, and walking.