Transport

AY1718G13.2 – “Cycling on Campus: A Measured Decision”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2017/18, Energy, Transport

Isaac Hong Wei En, Peter Sidajaya, Qu Haoxuan, Serene Soon Hoi Leng

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Industry Advisor: UCI

The main mode of transport in NUS is the NUS Internal Bus Service, which some 69% of the campus community rely on to commute in campus. High passenger load/overcrowding during peak hours is problematic and difficult to resolve. The culmulative carbon emission from the estimated 31,200 trips per school semester is also significant. One approach to alleviate the situation is to encourage commuters to cycle as a means of getting around campus. However previous studies also show that implementing such schemes can be challenging. This project aims to assist University Campus Infrastructure in collating crucial information, namely time and elevation changes, on various possible cycling routes, which could be used as alternatives to buses or walking.

Keywords: Transport, Energy and climate, elevation gradient, bicycling route

AY1718G12.1 – “Make Walking Cool Again: Measuring thermal comfort across NUS campus walking routes”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2017/18, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure, Transport

Marcia Lee Tjie Yi, Ong Jing Xiang, Tan Jia Yih Tiffany, Yeo Guo Hong, Zhang Ruichun

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

For thousands of pedestrians, undulating topography and less than ideal thermal conditions make walking along the roadside and sheltered walkways at NUS undesirable. Considering that the university is at a strategic phase in setting up a sustainable campus, increasing walkability would contribute significantly to that goal. Our project investigated thermal comfort on a variety of existing campus pathways. We measured airflow, temperature and humidity along the vehicle route and the ‘yellow corridor’. We mapped and compared this data to conditions in the Kent Ridge Forest to ascertain if the tree canopy significantly mitigates/changes the pedestrian experience with respect to thermal comfort. In our assessment, the forested ridge located lengthwise across the campus could provide a viable alternative walking solution, allowing users to travel on a route that significantly reduces walking distance and commute time. Based on our findings, we recommend that campus improvements for walkability should explore this potential solution in greater detail.

Keywords: Built Environment & Green Infrastructure, Walking, Car-lite, Green transport, Thermal comfort

AY1718G11.2 – “Grab-Y-Bike: Encouraging Cycling in NUS”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2017/18, Transport

Chen Yan Ming, Oh Qi Yuan, Quek Jing Xuan, Tan Sze Yuan, Gabriel

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: UCI

Our project seeks to identify the incentives that encourage individuals in NUS to travel via cycling. We conducted a general survey on 276 respondents in NUS to identify the difficulties and incentives raised by the NUS community. Based on the preliminary results, we proceeded to carry out our Grab-Y-Bike (grab your bike) campaign emphasising on convenience and monetary rewards respectively. The campaign was a positive one, with a greater proportion having a preference for saving time as an incentive for cycling. Hence, rather than having an overarching biking campaign, a targeted campaign with emphasis on convenience is recommended for better results.

Keywords: Transport, Bike Sharing, Behaviour studies, Green Transport, Campaigns

AY1718G08.2 – “Using Signage to Cultivate a Better Bicycle Sharing Culture”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2017/18, Energy, Transport

Fu Ying Qi Nicole, Koh Poh Chuan, Tan Zhe Hao, Tay Yong Sheng

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: UCI

Since the arrival of dockless bicycle sharing systems in NUS, indiscriminate bicycle parking has become a nascent problem, posing potential safety hazards and aggravating clutter on campus. Currently, the onus has been on operators to remove indiscriminately parked bicycles. Our group’s review of current literature revealed a paucity of user-focused methods to reduce the likelihood of indiscriminate parking. We conducted a survey identifying lack of awareness of bicycle parking zone locations, and lack of motivation to park responsibility as key factors in users choosing to park indiscriminately. Thereafter, we designed two types of prototype signages to determine its effect on creating proper bicycle parking behaviour.

Keywords: Transport, Bicycling Parking, Cycling, Green Transport, Energy

AY1718G05.1 –“Determination of effectiveness of bicycle sharing parking zones within NUS”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2017/18, Transport

Chan Sian Wen, Jeffrey Widjaja Lowardi, Neo Yu Xuan, Sin Yu Ang, Desmond, Tang Haoyang, Hubert

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: UCI

Bike-sharing programmes is a relatively new programme in NUS. To ensure its success, adequate resource allocation is required to support the bike-sharing scheme in NUS, one aspect being the implementation and positioning of additional bicycle stations. Our project aims to re-evaluate existing and proposed bicycle parking zones and propose additional suitable parking zones. To achieve this, our team worked on designing a matrix based on survey data obtained, and tested the matrix on UCI’s two newest stations to ascertain its effectiveness. We hope for this matrix to be a useful tool for UCI, and other organisations, in installing effective bike parking spaces.

Keywords: Transport, Cycling, Bike-sharing, Bicycling parking zones, Space usage evaluation

AY1617G21B – “Wheelchair accessibility in NUS: Practical or Theoretical?”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2016/17, Transport

Han Jing Yang (FoE), Ngiam Jing Hao (FoE), Samantha Toh Kay Yaun (FoS), Siew Tze Kang, Julian (FoE), Stephen Ow Sian Yau (SDE)

Academic Advisor: Ms. Wong Kah Wei
Industry Advisor: Ms. Agnes Yuen Yim Yee (OSA, NUS)

Imagine an average National University School (NUS) student. He studies Arts and Social Science and lives at Ridge View Residential College (RVRC). He wants to participate actively in the NUS community. He just so happens to be wheelchair bound. Should this affect how the student participates in NUS? NUS strives to be an inclusive environment as evident in its infrastructure and services which support the needs of the wheelchair bound students. By comparing the functionality and effectiveness of existing campus infrastructure and services for wheelchair bound students, our project aims to determine if this existing support is sufficient for wheelchair bound students to be independently mobile in NUS. We will be critiquing the theoretical side of the issue through practical assessments. Our proposed methodology will include using pre-existing information and sources, social experiments, gathering of data through focus group discussions and interviews with current NUS wheelchair bound students, staff from Disability Support Office (DSO) in Office of Student Affairs (OSA) and Office of Facilities Management (OFM), NUS Enablers and RVRC. Our data analysis and insights will give our group more knowledge of the issue, thus, leaving us in a suitable position to recommend improvements to existing policies and infrastructure; and suggest alternative approaches. We strive to partner NUS stakeholders in creating a more inclusive campus in which all NUS students are empowered to actively participate in the community!

Keywords: Transport, Mobility, Wheelchair bound, Disabled, Special needs

AY1617G19C – “Feasibility of cycling in NUS”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2016/17, Transport

Lee Jun Kang Darryl (FoE), Lim Li Yang (FoE), Lin Yuxuan (FoE), Olivia Widyawati (FoE), Sim Siok Rong (FoS)

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: Mr. Foo Siang Chi (OFM, NUS)

NUS shuttle buses have always been a convenient transportation for students and staff to travel within the big university campus (150 hectares). For efficient movement between faculties, the bus are students’ only convenient transport option. Furthermore, with rising enrolment numbers annually, there is a strain on the internal shuttle bus system, which culminates in overcrowding and increased fuel consumption. To cater to the rising transportation demand, more buses can be added but it would result in worsening air quality. To reduce the pressure on the NUS internal shuttle bus service, cycling presents itself as a transportation alternative to buses. In this project we aim to determine the feasibility of cycling in NUS. For our pilot study, we intend to test if cycling is a feasible mode of transport in NUS. We will be looking at areas such as timing, distance and safety between designated locations. We will also survey participants after they have tried out the bicycles to obtain user feedback. It is hoped that this study can contribute to the planning of a sustainable transport facility in NUS.

Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, Green transport, Cycling

AY1617G19B – “Sustainable Transport: The Human Element”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2016/17, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Ding Shu En Chloe (FASS), Lim Wei Min, Gary (FoS), Low Jing Wen (FASS), Pranav Kalra (FoE), Teo Hua-Yi Jonathan (FoE)

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: Mr. Foo Siang Chi (OFM, NUS)

Transport is a key sector that requires a more sustainable approach. 14% of all global CO2 emissions in 2014 were attributed to transportation (Environmental Protection Agency, 2014), a figure that is higher for developed countries such as Singapore. A similar issue is observed in the National University of Singapore (NUS), as students prefer to use the shuttle bus instead of walking. With a growing student population and limited transport infrastructure, this leads to issues like overcrowding of shuttle bus during peak hours and contribution to green house gas emissions. To resolve this problem, our group will design a mobile application aimed at helping students navigate around NUS campus. The prototype will be targeted towards Engineering students in the college, and the application’s effect on user behavior will be quantified using surveys administered before and after project implementation. Our group hopes to have a better understanding on the behaviors and attitudes with respect to sustainable transport and the relationship between infrastructure and behavior. It is hoped this data can be used in applying effective methods to encourage more students to consider walking in Campus.

Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, Behaviour survey, Walking in campus,

 

AY1617G14B – “Investigating user experience in NUS-Bicycle-Sharing-Pilot”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2016/17, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Chew Bi Ting (FASS), Chuah You Heng (FoS), Joshua Ng Kai Jiang (SoC), Sonia Ko Yun Xin (FASS), Tong Qi Wei (FASS)

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Industry Advisor: Mr. Foo Siang Chi (OES, NUS)

Our project explores the feasibility of bicycle sharing in NUS as an alternative to the NUS shuttle buses, which are often crowded during school hours. Bicycle sharing has gained popularity in school, towns and cities around the world. As there is no such system in NUS yet, we would like to find out whether such a system, if implemented in the local context, would be effective. We define effectiveness as the percentage of participants that display positive feedback towards the bicycle-sharing system. We will look at how frequently they use the system and more importantly, find out if the participants are willing to continue using it alongside buses. We will also look at the issues they encountered and hopefully use their responses to improve the system. Using quantitative data provided by MoBikes’ existing system, we will also assess user patterns and draw conclusions on whether the system is an effective alternative transport system to buses. A volunteer group of participants will take part in a 2-week pilot test. Participants will be given promotional codes for the MoBikes App so that they can use the MoBikes system for free. Four MoBikes docking stations will be installed in NUS during our pilot test and the participants will be required to use designated cycling routes. We will conduct a pre-test survey to gather data on the participants’ current main transport patterns. After the test, we will conduct a post-test survey to find out if they felt that the Bicycle Sharing system was a viable form of transport that could rival the shuttle buses.

Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, bicycle rental, cycling route, Energy and Climate

AY1617G11B – “Connect & Walk for a greener campus”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2016/17, Energy, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Chen Kuang (SoC), Chew Yu Liang (FoE), Jeremy Lee Jun Wei (FoE), Nabilah Bte Mohamad Rozaini (FoE), Neo Shun Jie (SDE)

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

NUS provides internal shuttle buses as the main mode of transportation for commuters within the campus. However, these buses become severely overcrowded particularly during peak hours. This issue will continue to exacerbate with increasing student recruitment. Should frequency of bus services increases to match the demand, the cost on man-hours, fuel consumption, labour, and other resources would be environmentally and economically unsustainable. To tackle the prevalent issue, we plan to implement a mobile application to encourage people to walk instead of taking the shuttle bus service. We also plan to create an algorithm that would allow students to plan their timetable on NUSmods such that their travel distance between classes is minimized. This would incentivize them to walk to their next class instead of taking the shuttle bus. To study what motivates commuters to walk, we plan to survey NUS students to find out the factors of consideration for their transport options. Our mobile application will then concentrate on such motivations to incentivise people to walk. In a nutshell, our research areas will involve three fields:

  1. What motivates people to adopt the different modes of transport?
  2.  Case studies of societies where the walking culture is prevalent.
  3. Study of existing/proposed ideas to encourage people to walk and why some of them failed.

Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, Energy and Climate, shuttle bus, companionship app.

 

AY1516G33 –“Walk NUS! Will advertised shortcuts in campus promote sustainable mobility?”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2015/16, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Lam Ka Ying (FoE/ISE1), Ong Si Yan (FASS/ARS1), Png Hui Shan Moira (FoS/SCI1), Tan Xing Liang (FoE/MPE1), Thio Ming Siang Benjamin (FoE/ENG1)

Academic Advisor: N. Sivasothi | Student Fellow: Wong Ci Yi

The importance of transport in today’s society cannot be undermined: it supports a country’s social and economic well-being. Unfortunately, the focus of transport policies on meeting utilitarian needs such as accessibility and travel time has resulted in other issues, such as air pollution and inefficient use of resources, being neglected. Hence the focus of our project: How to encourage the NUS community to adopt more sustainable means of mobility? After consolidating information from interviews with OES and OCA, our project decided to focus on walkability in particular: it was an area we could explore by ourselves. As many respondents to our survey indicated that knowing shortcuts would motivate them to walk more often, our group chose to disseminate such information. In closing, while it may only be a few routes at present, others can add to our work, and hopefully use it to encourage the walkability of the NUS campus.

Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, Walking in campus, Habits survey

AY1516G24 –“Can we encourage NUS students to opt for a more sustainable transport alternative?”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2015/16, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Ang Yong Quan (FoE/MLE1), Kirthana D/O Ganeson (FASS/ARS1), Koh Shing Yee (FoE/MPE1), Ravi Shwetha (MDP/CEG1), Won Jia Min (FASS/ARS1)

Academic Advisor: Adekunle Adeyeye | Student Fellow: Sin Kah Fai

In 2015, the NUS Office of Campus Amenities recorded that it transports an average of 50,000 people around campus per day. Even with this efficiency, buses are overflowing with students. While increasing the number of bus trips seems to be a straight-forward solution, it might only worsen the problem due to the narrow roads and heavy traffic on campus. It also further contributes to NUS’s carbon emissions. With this in mind, we searched for a more sustainable transport alternative and collected the feedback on the willingness of NUS students and staff to walk as a mode of transport. Discovering that many are willing to go the distance if real-time information and a mix of modes of transport are offered, we focused on building a mobile application that will help NUS students to navigate their way around the campus, through the best permutation required by the student on each unique scenario.

Keywords: Built Environment and Green Infrastructure, Transport, Mobility, Mobile application, Walking

AY1516G05 –“What is the PM2.5 impact of NUS shuttle buses at the U Town bus stop?”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2015/16, Mobility and Air Quality, Transport

Chan Shi Ying (SDE/PFM1), Dave Dexter Tan Wei Ye (FoS/SCI1), Law Yi En, Janice (SDE/PFM1), Shi Xiyue (SoC/COM1), Tan Jun Kiat (SoC/COM1)

Academic Advisor: Sadaf Ansari | Student Fellow: Kerk Jun Gang

Diesel buses, including NUS shuttle buses, emit fine particles (PM2.5) which are harmful to human health. In this project, we investigated the PM2.5 impacts of NUS shuttle buses and related health effects. Measurement of PM2.5 concentrations was conducted at University Town bus stop during peak (6.00pm to 7.00 pm) and non-peak (2.30pm to 3.30pm) periods for five days. During each period, we used DustTrack, an air quality monitor, and collected 24 data sets with an interval of 2.5 minutes. After applying humidity correction for raw data, we did statistical analysis to find the difference between the level of PM2.5 for peak and non-peak periods. The difference is not significant. Results for the PM2.5 impacts of NUS shuttle buses are inconclusive and further study is needed.

 Keywords: Transport, Mobility and Air Quality, Energy, Air Pollution, Air Quality Monitoring, Green Transport

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