Introduction of Licensed Public PMD-sharing Services in 2019

9 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport (a) why has the Government decided to allow applications for licensed public personal mobility device (PMD)-sharing services from January 2019; and (b) whether the Government will consider delaying the introduction of such commercial shared public PMD services until the riding culture for PMDs has improved and incidences of unsafe and inconsiderate usage have subsided.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Dr Lam Pin Min) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Deputy Speaker, Personal Mobility Devices or PMDs provide convenient transport options for first- and last-mile connectivity. PMD-sharing services will allow more Singaporeans to use PMDs as they will not need to own or carry them around. However, it is important that operators provide such services without causing public disamenities.

Drawing on the lessons from regulating the bicycle-sharing industry, LTA is taking a cautious approach to regulating the nascent PMD-sharing industry. Key issues being studied include fire risks and charging issues, as well as the need for third-party liability insurance. When licence applications commence next year, operators will be allowed to apply for sandbox licences for small-scale operations with limited fleet sizes. This will limit the impact of their operations and allow LTA to assess the operators’ operations and ability to comply with regulatory requirements before LTA considers granting any full licences for large-scale operations in the future.

The safe use of PMDs is a shared responsibility between users, operators and the community. LTA is strengthening public education and enforcement for all PMD users. LTA will also be introducing an e-scooter registration regime from January 2019 onwards. Under this regime, all e-scooters, regardless of whether they are owned by private individuals or PMD-sharing operators, will have identification stickers prominently pasted on them. This will facilitate enforcement and deter reckless riding. To ensure a smooth transition, LTA will engage the user community and will give a transition period for users to comply.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Nominated Member): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his comprehensive answers. I have four supplementary questions. I think Members of the House will agree with me there is hard enough currently to ensure that all owners of PMDs adhere to the rules for safe use of PMDs and to be considerate to the other footpath users. And earlier this year, a lot of us spoke about this issue at the Committee of Supply debate. I believe we are not out of the woods yet. Would it not exacerbate present situation if we have a new category of users, namely hirers. Hirers may even take less ownership of the need to ride responsibly and considerately since they are not the owners.

My second supplementary question is how does MOT intend to educate this new group of users: the hirers?

My next supplementary question is what would be the responsibility of commercial-shared PMD service providers in ensuring that their hirers use their PMDs in a safe, responsible manner?

And, finally, as the Senior Minister of State has shared about the limited sandbox size, could he share with the House what is this sandbox size expected to be when this share service is being introduced?

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank Mr Dennis Tan for the supplementary questions. They are more or less related. Yes, we had quite a comprehensive debate many months ago on the issue of bike sharing as well as the use of PMDs. With regard to the PMD-sharing services regulatory framework, there are several key considerations that LTA will take into account when promulgating that in 2019.

One is that we will take into account recent experiences from licensing the bike-sharing operators, that is, looking into ways to prevent indiscriminate parking and the abandonment of shared PMDs. In addition to that, there are also some issues that are very specific to PMDs like fire risks, charging issues as well as like third-party liability insurance.

LTA has been making an effort to ensure that PMD use as well as bike-sharing remains safe in the community. We adopt a multi-pronged approach. One of which is public education where we work closely with the various operators to educate users on safe and responsible riding. LTA also has broad-based measures to improve active mobility safety. And I think Mr Dennis Tan is also quite familiar with these. One of which includes the registration of e-scooters which will be implemented in early 2019. We also have stricter penalties for errant users. We will also be lowering the speed limit on foot paths from 15 km/h to 10 km/h. At the same time, we will be implementing the UL2272 standard to reduce fire risks of motorised PMDs. Last but not least, of course, will be infrastructural improvement. We will be building more dedicated cycling paths as well as widening foot-paths at locations where there is high pedestrian and cyclist volume.

Ultimately, PMDs offer a very convenient mode of commuting around Singapore and it is integral to our transport network and provide us with a car-lite alternative, especially for short distance trips. I would like to urge Singaporeans to be patient because many of these measures have been implemented only very recently. And, I believe, with time, we will be able to see significant improvements to users' behaviour as well as indiscriminate parking.

With regard to the sandbox licences, more announcements will be made when we are ready.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.