By Savithri Rodrigo
Singapore (Commonwealth Union)_It is Singapore’s new alternative energy option – human power! Simply take a walk to the bus-stop, work on your fitness regime and watch your phone’s battery power increase. You can always take the bus to wherever you’re going after that.
The gym is located at a bus stop in Boon Lay and is Singapore’s first bus stop-gym. Residents in the area have now found that the best way to exercise and go green is to use their own alternate energy source powered by hands and legs.
The prototype called ‘Recharge’ has now become hugely popular, with residents walking to the bus stop-gym, doing their workout while charging their phones and then jumping on a bus to work, to run errands or a shopping trip. Select users are given a Bluetooth card, which is tapped on the podium to start the work out. This card tracks activity, accumulates coins (for rewards) and when the workout begins, the motion lights up the panel and begins charging the phone.
A collaboration between The Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD), Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Health Office for Healthcare Transformation and Boon Lay Grassroots, the bus stop-gym is at No 20 Boon Lay Drive and is currently on trial until the 5th of December. Given its popularity, the bus stop gym is currently open only to the residents of the area but will definitely see an expansion soon.
The project was inspired when SUTD researchers engaged with the residents of Boon Lay on how they felt about physical activity, healthy eating and R&R. The project aims to not just keep people fit but also to enjoy going green using their own energy. To encourage more residents to make exercise a top priority, the Ministry for National Development will be rewarding those who hit 150 minutes of exercise time weekly, with vouchers.
A totally win-win formula – keeping fit, recharging the phone at no cost and getting a gift for doing that!
