Introduction
· A Gentle Introduction to Isochrone Maps
Analysis
· Tuas West Extension
· Downtown Line Failure
· Hypothetical Line Failures
Appendix
· Hawker Centre Accessibility Index
Demo
· Isochronic Singapore

Just over a week back on 18 August 2017, the latest addition to Singapore’s metro system, the Downtown MRT Line, broke down during the morning peak period.

We have looked at similar train disruptions in the past, but the Downtown Line presents an interesting context. Unlike it’s older counterparts like the North-South Line and East-West Line which have bus services routed based on the hub-and-spoke model, the Downtown Line doesn’t share the same design guidelines. …

Introduction
· A Gentle Introduction to Isochrone Maps
Analysis
· Tuas West Extension
· Downtown Line Failure
· Hypothetical Line Failures
Appendix
· Hawker Centre Accessibility Index
Demo
· Isochronic Singapore

Inspired by Conveyal’s work on assessing accessibility within cities, I thought that I would have a look at accessibility in Singapore. Conveyal’s approach is to focus on accessibility of jobs via public transportation, referencing Alain Bertaud’s paper “Cities as Labor Markets.”

Take One: Area Accessibility Index

Since this is an exercise to look at assessing accessibility, I started with the very naïve approach of assessing accessibility by aggregating the total area accessible via public transport within an arbitrary amount of time. …

Introduction
· A Gentle Introduction to Isochrone Maps
Analysis
· Tuas West Extension
· Downtown Line Failure
· Hypothetical Line Failures
Appendix
· Hawker Centre Accessibility Index
Demo
· Isochronic Singapore

A couple of weeks back, it was announced that the East-West Line was getting an extension into Tuas West, or as known to the rest of Singapore as the place where birds don’t lay eggs. The extension consists of four new stations: Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link.

When I heard the news, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I would need to update the schedules implemented in Isochronic Singapore. The next thought was that we could also visualise the impact of the introduction of these four stations. …

Introduction
· A Gentle Introduction to Isochrone Maps
Analysis
· Tuas West Extension
· Downtown Line Failure
· Hypothetical Line Failures
Appendix
· Hawker Centre Accessibility Index
Demo
· Isochronic Singapore

I have a long-standing fascination with isochrone maps. Apart from finding the organic forms alluring, these maps are information dense whilst remaining legible due to its conceptual simplicity. They have also allowed me to recognise the importance of urban mobility, that travel time is more important than physical distance in an urban environment.

Isochrones are akin to topographical contours, but instead of representing elevation they represent travel time. Isochrone maps incorporate isochronic contours at set intervals (e.g. 15-, 30-, 45- and 60-minute intervals) to illustrate the relief and bring shape to the landscape, which have been utilised in transportation planning from as early as 1887. …

As a result of participating in the prototyping weekend conducted during UPSingapore, I was able to massage and mangle a number of datasets, graciously made available by private and public organisations. One of the datasets that I managed to sink my teeth into was the collection of geocoded cab data collected over a 24 hour period on the 15 of May 2012 for 15,694 cabs.

From the data, I was hoping to observe the behavioural patterns of cabs in Singapore.

Island-Wide

I started by comparing the differences between available and occupied cabs.

Based on this comparison, a couple of behaviours reveal themselves. As expected is the concentration of available cabs to the east, lined up at Changi Airport. Whilst the rest of the available cabs are generally distributed throughout the heartlands, possibly performing random walks in search of passengers. Occupied cabs, on the other hand, tend to favour major roads and expressways. Also to note is the lack of available cabs along the southeastern coast of the island. …

Over the past week, Singapore’s subway system, the Mass Rapid Transport system (MRT), faced some of its worst disruptions in its 24 years of operation. The worst of which was a disruption of North-bound trains during after work peak hours, which lasted for about 5 hours. This disruption purportedly affected about 127,000 commuters.

Curious to place the impact of the disruption onto scale, I collected some data and created a few maps to visualise the scope of the impact.

Public Transport on a Normal Day

Let’s look at how Singapore operates on a regular day as a starting point for comparison.

Knowing that Google Transit contains public transport data for Singapore, I created the following map based on scheduled travel times at 7pm on 15/12/2011. The map shows the travel times required get to various locations in Singapore if one started her journey from City Hall Station. …