Singapore ranks 8th on global sustainable transport survey

SINGAPORE'S focus on electric vehicles and use of data in transportation planning helped it to rank eighth among the world's major cities when it comes to sustainable transport, according to a study commissioned by design consultancy Arcadis.

Singapore was the third-highest ranked Asian city, behind Hong Kong, ranked first, and Seoul, which came in fourth. A total of 100 cities were assessed by the Centre for Economic and Business Research, which carried out the study.

Singapore scored a perfect 100 per cent in the "people" pillar, which assesses the social and human implications of mobility systems, including quality of life. The nation's use of digital technology to improve public transportation performance was a particularly strong point for the country, as was its low rate of traffic fatalities.

On the "profit" pillar, which analyses the efficiency and reliability of the country's mobility system, Singapore came in 13th overall, reflecting the economic opportunity in the country and its sustainable financials. On affordability of public transport against average income, Singapore scored 65 per cent.

Singapore's weakest aspect was in the "planet" pillar, coming in 14th overall when considering the environmental impact of the country's transportation system. The country earned a high score for its push for electric vehicles, but was deemed to have very poor bicycle infrastructure.

From a broader perspective, Singapore earned praise for being one of the most well-balanced countries across all three pillars.

"Singapore ranks as one of the world's most sustainable cities and its achievements, especially in relation to the encouragement of electric vehicles and its focus on digitalisation, are to be lauded," Arcadis' Singapore country head, Tim Risbridger, said.

"These policies are evidence of the seriousness that the Singaporean government is taking its Smart Nation initiative. It will be very interesting to see the effect of projects such as 'CAR-LITE', Singapore's 15-year plan to reduce reliance on petrol-fuelled cars."