BANNED - E-scooters to be banned from Singapore's footpaths starting Nov 5

[Wormee]

Taken from a post from Facebook. Good read. Well written. 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3081843218499229&id=501120686571508&sfnsn=mo

𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐌𝐃𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝

There has been criticism to say  that the government didn’t do anything about the PMDs and suddenly banned them overnight. This is incorrect. In case we forget, here’s a re-cap of what happened over the years:
 
- When these things first came on the scene, the government supported it. MPs said there was opportunity for pedestrians and PMDs to share. They said it would help with “last mile” transportation and help ease the load on our transport system. In 2013, the LTA started to build infrastructure to promote “active mobility” to cater to the use of bicycles and PMDs.

- Then the first reckless acts came about. However Lui Tuck Yew in 2014 said that banning the eScooters would be too “blunt and rigid”. The traffic police advised that the PMDs should be used with caution on foot paths.

- In 2015, the PMDs again became the center of criticism. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said that there must be a “clear and consistent set of rules and norms on the use of bicycles and PMDs”. This set of rules would soon be implemented.

- In 2016, several accidents put the matter of PMDs before Parliament again. This time a PMD collided into a woman. The woman then slipped into a coma. Josephine Teo then said that it was “unfortunate to allow careless behaviour of minority to prevent larger community from using PMDs. Parliament then proposed a slew of measures. To recap, these included:
    - LTA enforcement
    - Using CCTV footage
    - Roping in members of the public
    - Licence plates
    - Speed limiters
    - General measures to improve safety of pedestrians
    - Mandatory insurance

- An “Active Mobility Advisory Panel” then issued a list of recommendations that was wholly accepted by the government.
- In 2017, the Mobility Act was passed. It included, amongst other things: limiting the speed to 15 km/h, limiting the weight and width of the device.

- In 2018, the government introduced mandatory registration and a further lowering of speed limits to 10km/h on footpaths.

- A mandatory registration regime was started. It gave PMD users until 30th of June 2019 to register their devices. 

- In July 2019, due to the high number of fires caused by poorly manufactured devices, the sale of non-UL2272 certified PMDs were banned. Those who bought non compliant devices were given an incentive to switch to a fire-safe one.

- September 2019: Town councils announced a ban of PMD use in void decks

- The last straw came in September. 65-year old cyclist Ong Bee Eng died after a 4 day coma following a collision with a PMD rider in Bedok.

On average, 370 PMD offenders were caught each month on average. This includes both delivery riders and non-delivery riders. Then there were the other social problems: fires, crowding out pedestrians on pavements, anti-social behaviour (smoking in groups, loud music), reckless riding. 

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡:

- There have only been 100,000 voluntarily registered eScooters in Singapore
- There were 228 reported accidents involving PMDs on public paths in 2017 and last year, with 196 resulting in injuries.
- The number of fatalities have not been published.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐌𝐃𝐬? 

- About 8k people signed the petition to reverse the ban on eScooters: https://www.change.org/p/lta-and-government-of-singapore-not-to-ban-pmd-in-singapore

- But over 75k people signed the petition to get them banned in October 2019 recently 
https://www.businessinsider.sg/i-want-to-walk-freely-69000-people-have-signed-an-old-petition-against-pmds-after-the-government-hinted-it-might-ban-them/

On a side note, if gig-ing for Grab is all one can do at the moment…then there may be bigger problems to worry about. These companies are in the game of innovation and disruption. It wouldn’t take very long for them to figure out a way to cut out the delivery rider and -boom- an entire industry is shattered. 

Don’t think it’ll happen? Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dagjQW_jgtE

Robots are safe, friendly and will not go zooming down the streets hitting pedestrians. Maybe that’s just what we need.

[inlinesix]

Robot?

Even China still uses a lot of human to do food delivery 

[Fcw75]

Don't think technology is advanced enough for robot to deliver food yet. If so, I will whack or trip the robot and take the food. 

[Yewheng]

On 11/11/2019 at 10:32 PM, Dleodleo said:

The  PMDs distributers also poor thing.  Having $1.5m worth of stock (3000 PMDs). Kena stuck....

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/e-scooter-businesses-may-suffer-losses-of-up-to-15-million-retrenchment-and

 

Amother news.  Companies brought in more qty intended for 11.11 promo but end up stuck cannot sell.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/stockpile-e-scooters-brought-singles-day-now-unsellable-say-retailers

 

Perhaps the ban is too sudden.  Leaving  those affected to have insufficent time to react.

 

This sums up.. What scared the most is immediate change.. For business point of view, they will lose confidence in Singapore in setting up business over here, if government su ka su ka say ban means immediately effective tomorrow. Lucky this only happen to this one case, hope government don't keep doing this.. If not for sure, many companies will think twice to set up business here and or thinking of shifting to other countries due to uncertainty of government policies like suddenly say will ban this and immediate effect which affect them. 

 

Business most scared is uncertainty.. They do not want to be in situation where they purchased something in bulk, government suddenly said ban and effectively immediately tomorrow. Then how they going to do business? No led time for them to prepare for exit strategy.. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Yewheng

[Beanoyip]

I never once used the delivery services in SG.. just take my bicycle down the road to buy take away..

[RadX]

These clowns no foresight and no wonder they are stuck in their food delivery gigs 

 

wiritng on wAll as early as 2017 and they had a full 2 yrs to rethink 

 

complacency set in

 

they deserve it. Now , we tax payers bear the brunt when that $$ can actually be put to better use than on these cbk

[Cauldron]

Maybe this is the start of something beautiful for singapore political scene.

No need Honglin. No fear of illegal assembly. 

Unlike our counterpart in hk. We can "protest" in comfort. Chairs, water and snack provided. Mps is a citizen right, that has now been elevated to a platform to bring across a point.

People are no longer of speaking up. Which is a positive development. 

 

[Chongster]

1 hour ago, Yewheng said:

 

This sums up.. What scared the most is immediate change.. For business point of view, they will lose confidence in Singapore in setting up business over here, if government su ka su ka say ban means immediately effective tomorrow. Lucky this only happen to this one case, hope government don't keep doing this.. If not for sure, many companies will think twice to set up business here and or thinking of shifting to other countries due to uncertainty of government policies like suddenly say will ban this and immediate effect which affect them. 

 

Business most scared is uncertainty.. They do not want to be in situation where they purchased something in bulk, government suddenly said ban and effectively immediately tomorrow. Then how they going to do business? No led time for them to prepare for exit strategy.. 

if the issue is public safety got to be swift what.  You see a person drowning cannot go home change swimming trunk right? 

[Yewheng]

19 minutes ago, Chongster said:

if the issue is public safety got to be swift what.  You see a person drowning cannot go home change swimming trunk right? 

The issue is, government should tackle it way way much eariler.. When it is not so popular.. A lot less people and businesses will be affected.. Because it become popular, sudden change of policy with immediate effect will affect a lot of people and businesses.. That's the difference.. 

[awhtc]

8 minutes ago, mikk123 said:

look at those pple....act like a Vitim. They are the killer on road and poses danger to our lives...elderly dare not to go out door anymore.. even normal adult like me starts to look around whenever i walk on pavement.  unnecessary stress in our already stressful daily life...  one bunch of losers.

Many delivery men are from lower-income families so they do need the delivery job to sustain.  Hence, they are very upset with the sudden ban.  The majority are law-abiding but they are sabotaged by a minority who created the accidents or went against the law.

[Victor68]

19 minutes ago, mikk123 said:

look at those pple....act like a Vitim. They are the killer on road and poses danger to our lives...elderly dare not to go out door anymore.. even normal adult like me starts to look around whenever i walk on pavement.  unnecessary stress in our already stressful daily life...  one bunch of losers.

Decision by scholars so to change need to clear them with 1000 reasons and they will ask another 2000 questions to justify the original decision is right but now need to change a little bit. Haha

[Chongster]

42 minutes ago, Yewheng said:

The issue is, government should tackle it way way much eariler.. When it is not so popular.. A lot less people and businesses will be affected.. Because it become popular, sudden change of policy with immediate effect will affect a lot of people and businesses.. That's the difference.. 

Heng will tell you they have integrity.  PM will tell you they dare to make hard decision,  Gan will say no blame culture.  Shan will tell you they know who you are, where you live, your default bubble tea order.  
 

No question for people on the other camp that they shd have banned all these much earlier.  But as outlined above, the govt did try many things in the last 5 years to make this work but were forced to change track when the first deaths start to happen. Maybe  the PmD sellers should be thankful for the ones they sold, not the ones they didn’t sell. 

 

[Wt_know]

22 minutes ago, mikk123 said:

I am not against people making a honest living. My point is beside food delivery, there is no other ways to make a living? they are not willing to adjust and adapt. The matter of fact is Singapore is too small and too crowed to have fast moving devices in the living area. All the fast moving devices should be confined in the main road. 

initially, ah gong is sibei sibei hiong to support gig economy, disruption, this and that

but ah gong never think properly and act slowly until hdb was burnt, ah mah was killed, si gina e-scoot-F1-cking on road at 100kmph

since spore inc ah gong is the most tough in the world ...

ah gong can put a law to catch and punish speedster gao gao

sanction only approved e-scooter with top speed at 10kmph since want to ease last mile transport and make delivery on footpath.

any modification to break 10kmph will sue until pants drop for company and sent escooter speedster to changi chalet

i support the idea to BAN e-scooter because i don't use it and find it hazard

but i do feel it's extreme ... saying PMD can be used on PCN literally saying PMD is banned in spore

case in point .... bike sharing also sibei screw up

Edited November 13, 2019 by Wt_know

[Mustank]

https://www.roads.sg/great-help-from-a-kind-pmd-user/

 

[Throttle2]

3 hours ago, Yewheng said:

 

This sums up.. What scared the most is immediate change.. For business point of view, they will lose confidence in Singapore in setting up business over here, if government su ka su ka say ban means immediately effective tomorrow. Lucky this only happen to this one case, hope government don't keep doing this.. If not for sure, many companies will think twice to set up business here and or thinking of shifting to other countries due to uncertainty of government policies like suddenly say will ban this and immediate effect which affect them. 

 

Business most scared is uncertainty.. They do not want to be in situation where they purchased something in bulk, government suddenly said ban and effectively immediately tomorrow. Then how they going to do business? No led time for them to prepare for exit strategy.. 

Sorry this one i cannot agree with you, Yewheng.

change of rules immediate is essential to safeguard physical wellbeing.   When you are wrong first time, you better quickly get it right for the lesser evil.

Business are there becos they are resilient enough.

there will always be political risk, environmental risk, social risk, economic risk etc....

This is nothing. 

The Govt of ours better be smarter, quicker, better and harder if necessary.  Already they are not cheaper.  Heeeee

[Carbon82]

Heated dialogue between food delivery riders and Lam Pin Min over e-scooter ban on footpaths

SINGAPORE — The government cannot risk a delay in implementing the e-scooter ban on footpaths as safety is of paramount concern, Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min was overheard saying during a heated dialogue session with food delivery riders on Tuesday night (12 November).

Behind the closed doors of Anchorvale Community Club’s multipurpose hall, about 300 food delivery riders peppered Lam with a flurry of questions touching on the ban’s impact on their livelihood, the lack of path infrastructure for e-scooter riders to suggestions like introducing a personal mobility device (PMD) quota on roads.

Some of them had also brought along their spouses and young children to the session. Also in attendance was opposition politician Goh Meng Seng, secretary-general of the People’s Power Party, who called for an e-scooter licensing regime.

The session comes after Lam announced last Monday in Parliament that such devices would be banned on footpaths the day after, following a series of accidents involving them.

Reporters who turned up at the venue were not allowed to attend the closed-door session and stood outside the hall. At times, several attendees could be heard cheering on fellow riders who asked questions or heckling loudly during the dialogue, which ended at around 10pm after more than one-and-a-half hours.

At one point, an exasperated Lam could be heard telling the riders, “Because I cherish the lives of Singaporeans. I don’t want Singaporeans to be injured or lose their lives.”

To me, the whole saga evolve around 1 key word: INFRASTRUCTURE, which none of the Minister or MP have addressed in all the Parliament and Meet the People Sessions.

And as I have shared with some friends and MCFers these few days, will all these ugly scenes of PMD riders yelling, shouting at or even threatening the Minister / MP a prelude to something more damaging? Think HK... 

For those who are into history or politics, the government tends to pay more attention to the lower end group, not really because they care for them more than its other citizens, but these group have nothing to lose and will likely causes more harm when situations gets out of control.

[Throttle2]

At the end all this is talk lah.

this morning, i was walking aimlessly near Kallang area ( becos thats what jobless people do)  and i already saw an ANgmoh guy riding a huge PMD on pavements and over zebra crossings and roads, at high speed easily 20-30km/hr.  

Who is there to enforce?

who who?

where? I still waiting

Pwui!

[Mockngbrd]

40 minutes ago, mikk123 said:

I am not against people making a honest living. My point is beside food delivery, there is no other ways to make a living? they are not willing to adjust and adapt. The matter of fact is Singapore is too small and too crowed to have fast moving devices in the living area. All the fast moving devices should be confined in the main road. 

I was thinknig about this part this morning otw to work. But yea, if they really is avg 20 deliveries a day and 5 bucks a pop. Then is 100 dolla a day. When I first started working, my salary starting 1.3k, I think same industry now starting also below 2k. Deliver food get more money esp for this unskilled. 

If student in holiday even lagi best. 2k a month for scooting ard, no need work as waiter, banquet, newspaper, part time sales, push airport trolly, 7-11. All those work shift, tired like shit, bottom of food chain, and earn less. 

 

Anyway, pap wan shui. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Mockngbrd