Singapore’s Mobility Model: Time for an Update?

Abstract

Singapore’s urban transport system is well known as a policy success story, and its key elements have been widely recounted. However, while acknowledging the strengths of the Singapore approach, this chapter discusses some of its shortcomings. It reviews the key elements of Singapore’s approach to its urban transport challenges, starting in the early 1970s. This approach established a prominent role for public transport and avoided the locking in of significant automobile dependence. However, a source of new tensions is an overemphasis on high traffic speeds in too many contexts. This emphasis is increasingly in danger of undermining other key elements of Singapore’s approach to transport issues, such as the requirement for space efficiency and the need to raise the status of alternatives to the car. Finally, the chapter points towards possible adjustments to Singapore’s model that might allow it to overcome its dilemmas.