There are ways to cure the singularity problem in cosmology by means of quantum effects. In the process, one encounters the question of time, which can for instance be addressed by using an internal degree of freedom. Applying such a method to an anisotropic Bianchi I model where the shear serves as a clock, I show that some generic features can be obtained for the trajectory of the average scale factor, all avoiding the singularity and reaching similar asymptotic states, deemed semi-classical.