Executive summary

In this proposal, our team will be proposing a new bicycle sharing scheme as an alternate mode of transport for commuters to get from one place to another. GreenBikeG.O, the name of our bicycle sharing scheme utilizes several new features that current bike sharing schemes in Singapore do not offer. To allow our readers to have a better understanding of why bicycle sharing is important for the transport infrastructure in Singapore, this proposal will discuss the current solutions being implemented in Singapore, our proposed solution and its benefits.

Personal Statement

I am an engineering student who takes train to school daily. I do not have the habit of taking any feeder bus though my apartment is 800 metres away from the train station. This is because the bus stop will be filled with people and walking out to the station is actually faster than taking the bus to the station. There were many times I wished that there were bicycles to access anytime, anywhere. I hope that by using the knowledge that I have learnt from engineering, my team and I can come up with a bicycle sharing scheme is can be easily assessed by everyone.

Letter of transmittal

Singapore Institute of Technology @ DOVER

10 Dover Drive

Singapore

19 November 2015

Professor Brad Blackstone

Centre of Effective Communication

Singapore Institute of Technology @ DOVER

10 Dover Drive

Singapore

Dear Sir

Re: Proposal for introduction of GreenBikeG.O.

This letter is to notify you on our acknowledgement with regards to your letter of authorization.

In this letter, we are eager to present you with our proposal for GreenBikeG.O.

In the 1950s, bicycles was a common of transport for Singaporeans. As Singapore progresses,

public transport such as Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and buses were introduced, which caused the

decline in commuters choosing bicycle as a mode of transport. Public transport has become a part

of everyone’s lives and bicycle has been used mainly as a sport or for leisure activity. The amount

of new buses and trains being introduced to our public transport is not sustainable compared to

the increase in number of commuters (approximately 250,000) yearly.

In line with the aims of Land Transport Master Plan by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), our

group would like to propose GreenBikeG.O, to diversify our modes of transport and reducing

congestions at the same time. In the “Share a Bicycle” scheme by LTA, plans that are underway

were not well publicised and there were areas of concerns unaddressed. To improve the current

situation in gaining more awareness in using bicycles as one of the modes of transport,

GreenBikeG.O. scheme encompasses additional features which prioritizes user-experience to

attract more commuters in cycling. In addition, before the launch of GreenBikeG.O., emphasis will be placed on publicizing the scheme to allow the public to know how does it work and the benefits of it.

We would like to thank you for your time to read through our proposal, and take GreenBikeG.O. as your consideration to diversify and innovate our modes of transport.

Yours Sincerely,

Leader

On Behalf of Team “GreenBikeG.O.”

Summary

In the article, " Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to ‘seize the urban moment'", Khanna (2015) discussed the measures of how 'South East Asian governments' tackled the exponential growth of citizens in cities.  Khanna mentioned that ‘flexible governance’ was observed in Jakarta, where citizens informed government agencies on the areas of improvements for Jakarta’s infrastructure and traffic. This improved the efficiency of related government agencies by acting on the feedback from the public directly. Khanna had also mentioned citizens had become more resourceful with the help of that mobile applications such as “Beeline” that evaluates the public’s demand for bus route in Singapore and “QLUE” that allows citizens of Jakarta to warn each other about possible hazards in the area. Khanna also stated that cities such as Jakarta and Manila were innovating their local infrastructure to boost the cities’ economy.

Reader's Response 

Khanna (2015) discussed ways to solve problems urbanization had brought along. There is a need to suggest these solutions as Fensom (2015) stated the ‘urban population’ rose from 579 million in 2000 to 778 million in 2010. The solutions discussed in Khanna’s article were noteworthy innovations. However, they were not targeting on the root cause of rapid urbanization.  

One of the solutions mentioned by Khanna was using the application ‘QLUE’ to inform government agencies about flooding problems. I would like to suggest another solution that targets the root cause of flooding. Aerts (2013) stated that one of the possible reasons of flooding in Jakarta was drainage systems clogged up by rubbish. The problem of rubbish clogging drainage would require government agencies to educate the public not to litter and to increase the frequencies of clearing rubbish in drainage systems. Building bigger drains would be futile, if citizens continue to litter and clog up the drains. Therefore, educating citizens would be a long term solution to eliminate one of the factors that caused flooding.

Aerts (2013) had also mentioned another possible reason that caused flooding: the inability of drainage system to discharge the overwhelming amount of water. In other words, the drainage system could not support the current population and effects of weather. Primanita (2014) reported that the government agencies in Jakarta were offering solutions, for example, isolating the ‘utility cables’ with a duct, in order to overcome the problem of a 65-year old drainage bundled with ‘utility cables’.  The design of the drainage system does not support a huge population. To solve these problems that poor urban planning had introduced would require too much effort and coordination from various sectors. Government agencies were then trying to salvage the consequences of poor urban planning. Although government agencies did not anticipate the influx of urban population, they can still use these experiences and apply it to developing cities.

After government agencies apply these experiences on the infrastructure in developing cities, they can introduce transmigration policies to divert the population from Jakarta. In the article “Transmigration with urban concept to start in 2010” by The Jakarta Post (2009), mentioned that citizens would be transferred to a new city environment with infrastructure to ensure their well-being. In addition, incentives such as housing, agriculture land and ‘financial assistance’ would also be provided. The citizens from Jakarta can be relocated to a less crowded city reduces the amount of citizens in Jakarta.  Transmigrating Jakarta citizens will act on the overcrowding problem directly, which could slow down the pace of population explosion in Jakarta. Citizens who transmigrate may get a better quality of life in a less developed city. At the same time, the declining rate of population growth could allow the government to have more time for solving the problems of rapid urbanization. Transmigration will be a win-win remedy for both the government and the citizens.

In conclusion, the solutions that Khanna (2015) had discussed were innovative. They were good solutions to ease the discomfort and inconvenience caused by the effects of rapid urbanization. However, they did not solve the problems that are ineradicable from rapid urbanization. Government agencies can learn from these experiences to anticipate rapid urbanization problems and also build a city with better infrastructure. Together with transmigration policies, the citizens in the new city may not experience the adverse effects of rapid urbanization. 

References

Aerts, J., Botzen, W., Bowman, M., Dircke, P., & Ward, P. (2013). Climate adaptation and flood risk in coastal cities. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=dE9JAgAAQBAJ

Fensom, A. (2015). Asia’s urbanization “just beginning.” The Diplomat.  Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://thediplomat.com/2015/01/asias-urbanization-just-beginning/

Khanna, P. (2015). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to “seize the urban moment”. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment

The Jakarta Post. (2009). Transmigration with urban concept to start in 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/17/transmigration-with-urban-concept-start-2010.html

Primanita, A. (2014). Flooding highlights poor state of Jakarta’s 1960s drainage system. Jakarta Globe. Retrieved September 27, 2015, from http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/archive/flooding-highlights-poor-state-of-jakartas-1960s-drainage-system/

The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

Our first lesson in Effective Communication class was to write a "The importance of English Language". It was the first short essay I wrote after 2 years of National Service. After writing my own short essay, I have to comment on other classmates' short essay. At first, everyone was nice by commenting on each other's content, and no one commented on the language component. However, to help everyone learn and improve our English, we had to pay extra attention to our peers' language and be critical about it. After reading up and paying attention to my own language and my peers' language, I felt that my language has improved tremendously. The next writing assignment was technical report on our proposal, which required us to propose a solution for the current problems we are facing in Singapore. My classmates feedback that they did not know the focus of the report. The second draft was filled with millions of minor mistakes, which made our report unreadable.

I had presented twice in Effective Communication module. The first presentation was an informal presentation on the content of a report. It was more towards a sharing session of what I had learned from the website to my classmates, which might be the reason why I was not nervous and trembling. The second presentation was formal presentation on our proposal "GreenBike.GO". I was really nervous and one of my classmates commented that she could hear my voice trembling. I should have practice more and be more familiar with my slides, to make myself more confident and less nervous. The other way I could have adopt is to treat this as a sharing session with my classmates, with a rule that is to be formal in my language usage.

The biggest take away from Effective Communication was the feedback given from my peers and tutor. They were the audience for my presentation and report. In the future, these audience may be my superiors or clients. The contents that I present and my audience's understanding for my message are important. On the other hand, giving my peers constructive and critical feedback is also a good way to stay focus and learn from them.

The person who have inspired you.

The person who inspired me was Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is not because I aspire to be a bodybuilder, it is because I agree with the rules he had. Then, you must be wondering, if I'm not a bodybuilder, how I know about Arnold Schwarzenegger? 

At one of my life, I was completely aimless. For 2 months, my daily routine was breakfast, lunch and dinner, while checking on Facebook every single moment in between. After dinner, it would be watching movies. Life was mundane. Until one day, I had chanced upon "Pumping Iron". I got bored during the movie, and I went to search Arnold Schwarzenegger on Google. I chanced upon the rules Arnold had for life. 

These rules are better known as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 6 rules for success. The following are the rules:

1. Trust yourself
2. Break some rules
3. Don't be afraid to fail
4. Ignore the naysayers
5. Work like hell
6. Give something back

From these 6 rules for success, I have come up a direction in life. In order to trust myself, I have to do all the evaluations on the decisions I am going to make. If I don't feel confident about the decision or direction, I have to work hard to make myself confident and certain about my decision. 

To stand out from the crowd, I have to break some rules and be innovative. This has made me question myself with "Why not?" instead of "Why?" when thinking of a solution or my perspective on issues. 

Having a different perspective from others may face some problems. I have to work double the effort to express myself.  However, there will be people who can't accept different perspective and criticise my ideas. The 4th rule, "Ignore the naysayers", does not mean not accepting criticism. It means to accept constructive feedback and  ignore criticisms that are non-factual. 

The first 4 rules are the direction I will be having in life. To make the 4 rules work, the 5th rule have to be in place. The worst feeling in life is not achieving something that is within your potential. Working like hell ensures myself to make sure I have done my best and not to regret the direction I have chosen. 

Last of all, "to give something back" is to reward those who have assisted me along the way. The first person I will reward is my father. As he have worked hard to provide a living for my family. It will be pointless working hard to achieve success, if I forgo the people around me. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger has inspired me to set principles that I have in life. Without his inspiration, I would be idling around and not working hard in life.  

Oral Presentation Reflection

Two days ago was my group's turn for presentation. Our topic for presentation was "Introducing Bicycle Sharing Scheme - GreenBike.GO" and the part that I presented was about current solutions and facilities we have in Singapore. 

After collating the feedback from my classmates, the following are the common feedback from my classmates. There are several entries about being tense and not having eye contact due to looking back at presentation slides. The positive feedback were being knowledgeable at my own content and brings back the topic while presenting. 

Overall, I felt that i could have done better during my presentation. I could have practice more of my presentation to feel more confident about my own content and look up for tips that relieves anxiety. There were a point that i had to be careful in my subsequent "Question and Answer" session, as the feedback was about myself being defensive. This is a precious point that I will always remember for future presentation, as it may change my stakeholders or audience mind, no matter how well the presentation is.