Bikeshare vs Bus/MRT vs your own bike/escooter!

So ofo bike share are having free November and December rides, prompting me to try them out.
It was such an ideal timing and I had the perfect scenario to use it, that will be another story.

Right now, what I was interested to know is that which is cheaper? Bike share or Bus/MRT/LRT?
Now logically if the distance is too near, walking is free, cycling should theoretically be cheaper then the bus or MRT. But at what point should I opt for one or the other?

Being an engineer the excel spreadsheet starts! With that a magical chart appears:

Ain't it cool? Data can be beautiful, any info-graphic designers out there wanna do something with me? Give me a buzz!

Conclusion?

Amazingly the answer depends on which bike share company you choose! 

Short distance: oBike and Mobike starts off cheaper with their 50 cents rate.

Medium distance: Mobike is the cheaper choice for longer commutes. 

Long distance: Ofo, until it hits a cap of $2.

What is even more interesting for me is when I calculated the time take on your transport mode of choice.

Time is money, isn't it?

So taking you bike on short distances is almost always going to be faster since you don't have to wait for the bus and you can drop-off the bike at your void deck!
The magical number where buses are faster is when the distance to be travel is 3km and more.

Share it! Comment! Let me know what you would like to know next!

Simpler chart to understand:


That's it! Dualcircles signing out.

tags mobike obike bikeshare.sg sgbikes ofobike gbikes

Radical Stimulus: Wee hour commuting!

I have been commuting 3 days in a row now, and it's great! The problem about reporting to camp so early in the morning is that the frequency of trains/buses and significantly lower, and trains sometimes don't start that early either! Add to the fact that my destination is no where near a MRT station or even a bus stop, it just makes bike commuting that much more appealing!!

Public transport would probably take me more than an hour, but instead is taking me at the minimum 30mins! Crazy crazy time savings!

Traffic is light, the air is fresh, parks & PCNs are empty, I'm not paying fare-hiked taxi fares, and am independent transport wise (no need to rely on others to tom pang me!).

It's also helps that my destinations also have other bike commuters! With the help of more cyclists, more people are aware that cycling is actually a viable mainstream transport option and the are asking me for details and how to get started.

All of them so far are surprised how quick I get to places but I still get that "Woah, you cycle here ah?" comment.

Just hoping it doesn't rain during my commutes!

Radical Stimulus: Cycling Movies

I wrote a similar post on Travel Movies that you might want to check out too.

This post is about cycling movies!

Chasing Legends, about the Tour de France, a power of Team play and strategic moves in the world of cycling... If you ever wondered about the innings of the world's most well known road race, wonder no more.

It definitely spurs you on to ride more, faster and harder! Definitely recommended!

24 Solo, I watched my friend join the recent (ok maybe not that recent) 24 hour race at Tampines Bike Park and wondered who in the right mind would join such a race! After I watched this movie... I realized... Well, that I agree with the Chris's friend and manager's thoughts about people who join the race... What is that thought? Well you have to go watch it to find out!

This movie is really shows me that if you want something bad enough, you will push yourself to the utmost limit. Cheers!

 

Tour de France 2010 Review, not as spectacular as Chasing Legends but still worth a watch, it's a different year and different events happened... But if you only have time for one, Chasing Legends has be the one. For this particular tour it depicted an battle between the top 2 riders... Going all out to destroy each other, and boy was it intense!

 

Break Away, a classic that I have never heard of, from the year 1979...  More on the Life of the student who just fnished High School than just about the cycling, there are so many things that I could relate to and just taking a look at life back in the days was a real eye opener, a movie with cycling mixed in? I love it!

After every movie, I just felt like riding... If that is not a Radical Stimulus, I don't know what is!

I will be writing less this month... Got ICT ah!

Radical Stimulus: Bumping into people

[vimeo=25446253]

After watching the above video, its true! I bump into people along the way and we chat! haha, people I haven't seen in years! More often I bump into my neighbours though. Sometimes I go downstairs at the void deck to fiddle with my bike, tweaking the brakes or shifters, or just giving it an oil. Cycling really makes people come closer together! Eventually and hopefully leading to closer and friendly communities!

Radical Stimulus : Others commuting experience

(Picture, taken at Tokyo, Ginza edited with focal B&w, almost definitely ridden by a couple in love <3)

It often spurs me on to do my commutes when I hear how others have it much harder, how they cope, their tips and tricks, and basically everything they say since most of it can be related to my own experiences. One of the best places to hear from others are forums, such as SMBF!

But I'm going to post a link from Togoparts.com today since I seldom go there. Reading the thread was refreshing! Here

Tags: Cycling in Ginza

Closer to nature, nature is closer

Radical Stimulus: Travel Movies

This was what really got me thinking that a long distance bike trip is possible and was an interesting watch. I took some time to watch it, since it's a couple of episodes long! Fun. I wanted to do what he did after watching it! Get your motivation up!



I have not watched this movie yet though... Anyone wanna give me reviews?



Another mad mad video on a crazy crazy distance mountain bike race. It's so long... that the gap between each rider can be a couple of days apart. Truly epic.



Most recently I caught this movie, beware though it has a sad ending. But it kinda gave me a strong message about materialism and doing things in life.

God I miss my bike.

Radical Stimulus : Streetfilms

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/10785832 w=400&h=300]

If you know about Youtube, you probably know about Vimeo, and so should know about Streetfilms! Sometimes they really upload some really nice videos on commuting. And it motivates me to commute by bike. Cheers!

Repost : The Sea.

Last weekend I took my bike and headed for a recce ride to Hiroshima. It was supposedly 50km away and I just wanted to ride about 50 round trip so i figured halfway would be good. Since I get lost so often.

I lost I did... I was supposed to head north into a valley surrounded by mountains but instead I went west to the coast line. And oh my god. It was beautiful.

Being born and bred in Singapore you would think we are no strangers to the sea, but when all the buildings disappeared and I could see the sea, I just stood there looking out. The serenity was unparalleled , open sea, nice afternoon sun, and as far as I was concerned there were no people/ cars/boats around. Sweet. Now I'm thinking to ride my weekend away to the next town by the coastline.... The town is 100km away... 200km ride on a bike that is held together by a paper bag.... Hmmm...

 

edit: not sure how this post ended up as a separate page, so i'm reposting it.

Tags: Beach in Hiroshima, Cycling to the beach in Hiroshima, Japan

Radical Stimulus: Getting closer to nature.

Riding a bike can bring you so much closer to nature, a few days I rode pass a quiet stretch of road and saw some small cheery blossoms (Sakuras) flowering... Such a beautiful sight!

Many times, I have simply just stopped to enjoy scenery, come to think of it... I should stop and admire the Sakuras that I see on my commute to work. Just absorb it all in! After all these beautiful sights only last all but 2 weeks.

Just riding your bicycle and enjoying nature is really relaxing, the sights of green (Pink for Sakuras!), smells, rivers, and even people watching... Enjoy your commute guys!

A Bike path by the sea.

Taken in the evening, just before it got dark... A Sunset without the Sun, at dusk. No filters, just iPhone 4 Magic. I like how calm the picture feels. Like I'm sitting right there staring out into the sea, love the background of mountains :)



Along the bike path was this wet patch, just as I moved off after taking this picture, a small splash and turned around to see the sea crashing against the wall of the beach and up onto the path. People at the north east of Japan, we hope you are ok. Be strong.



Love the sides that looks like mini cliffs.



A small beach in the middle of the path... Take care all, I'm fine here in Japan if you guys are concerned.

A Radical Stimulus : Multiple stops

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com.sg/maps?f=d&amp;source=s_d&amp;saddr=Unknown+road&amp;daddr=transportation+museum+to:%E5%AE%89%E5%B7%9D%E9%80%9A%E3%82%8A%2F%E7%9C%8C%E9%81%9338%E5%8F%B7%E7%B7%9A+to:%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC,+%E3%80%92731-0123+%E5%BA%83%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C%E5%BA%83%E5%B3%B6%E5%B8%82%E5%AE%89%E4%BD%90%E5%8D%97%E5%8C%BA%E5%8F%A4%E5%B8%82%EF%BC%91%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%92%EF%BC%96%E2%88%92%EF%BC%92+(%E5%90%89%E9%87%8E%E5%AE%B6+54%E5%8F%B7%E7%B7%9A%E5%8F%A4%E5%B8%82%E6%A9%8B%E5%BA%97)+to:Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road&amp;geocode=FfDsDAIdSPjkBw%3BFbb7DQIdi7PkBylnTiKxnplaNTHg-CVlSg8LbQ%3BFZrTDQIdvkXlBw%3BFT6rDQIdWVXlByFLCRldWDl0IQ%3BFWz9DAId0nLlBw%3BFYjgDAId_G7lBw%3BFRblDAIdRAHlBw&amp;hl=en&amp;mra=dme&amp;mrsp=0&amp;sz=13&amp;dirflg=w&amp;sll=34.414699,132.45821&amp;sspn=0.064435,0.169086&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;ll=34.414699,132.45821&amp;spn=0.064435,0.169086&amp;output=embed&w=425&h=350]

If you wanna check out the route.

"B" stop, the first of my original destinations, Hiroshima Transportation Museum.



There was a interesting setup of cycling machines found in gyms connected to a TV screen, where you get a virtual cycling route of 7 possible destinations! Pretty cool, but it was too realistic! Uphills meant more resistance while pedaling... One of the destinations was Mt. Fuji. The moment I saw the start point, an insane incline I left the machine!

But it was rather interesting to see so many people at the machine eager to have a go at it. :)



"C & D" stops were impromtu stops, of a comic cafe, karaoke, clothes and bicycle store...

"E" stop was the second planned stopped and I rode up a long incline to a nice view...



The Peace Pagoda at the top...



Great view, no? I had more impromptu stops along the way but lets get down to the point.

Riding my bike has really made me think about how I can the most from my trip, linking up destinations with the route to where I'm going. It saves me both time and money, gives me a good work out and totally makes my weekends worth while.

Somehow, when you are taking a train saw, from point A to point B. and there are 5 stops along the way.... If all 5 stops had something interesting like a shopping mall/ temple/ good food. Will you stop at every stop? I know I will on my bike!

Tags:  Commuting, Cycling in Hiroshima, Cycling in Japan, hiroshima peace pagoda, hiroshima transportation museum, Japan, Radical Stimulus

A Radical Stimulus to ride : The impromptu encounter

I was riding Home from Hiroshima Port and saw this tall lighted structure that resembled a Christmas tree from afar, I didn't know where it was or what it was. I just decided then and there that I wanted to check it out. I rode around looking, and eventually found it.

The silence at the spot was deafening, almost surreal. After surveying the place further, it appears that in the day, it is a popular place judging from the four vending machines nearby and what seems like a bustling office during the working hours.

At night there was a lone restaurant, and yes i did say Hiroshima Port, so as you can imagine being by the beach with a nice lighted structure at night, it sure felt rather romantic.

You never know what an impromptu encounter might bring you, just have a sense of adventure!

Tags: An impromptu encounter, adventure when cycling, romantic spot in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Port

Radical Stimulus aka An Impetus to ride: Parking

Not wanting to steal the title "An Impetus to ride", yet still wanting to keep a relation with "sister site" commutinginsg. I looked up the Thesarus and found "Radical Stimulus", sounds pretty damn good to me!

So "An Impetus to ride" = "Radical Stimulas" on dualcircles!

One of the keys things of why I enjoy commuting so much is because I can park really close to where I want to go, often within arm's length (Say if I stop by a coffee shop for lunch). And when you can park so close to both the beginning of your journey and the end of it, you save precious time and maybe a bit of energy(compared to walking, the advantages just keep coming).

And yes, even in Japan they totally get it. The picture above is a typical parking area under apartments, almost full and if vacant could have probably parked 2 or more cars. Not really a big deal, but from what I have heard, parking here each day can cost an average of 500 Yen or SGD$7.50 at your apartment's carpark. Park in the city for work, and it could easily double, add the doubled cost with your apartment's cost and its technically triple. So what many people here do is find the cheapest lot parking their cars there, leave if for the weekdays and cycle instead. Cycle to the parking lot to get your car, sounds like a multi-mode commute to me!

So its free and you can always find a parking lot. No doubt in my mind is this a Radical Stimulus to ride!

 Tags: Bicycle Parking, Commuting, commutinginsg.blogspot.com, Hiroshima, Japan, motivation to ride, parking, Radical Stimulus, singapore