Suspending Shared PMD Permits Until Riding Culture Improves

6 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport whether the Government will consider not allowing commercial shared personal mobility device (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 Speaker, Sir, to address the unsafe and inconsiderate usage of personal mobility devices (PMDs), we are strengthening public education and enforcement, including the registration of e-scooters. When implemented in the second half of 2018, all e-scooters, regardless of whether they are privately-owned or shared, must be registered and have identification stickers prominently pasted on them. This will facilitate enforcement and deter reckless riding. Under the Active Mobility Act which commenced on 1 May 2018, errant users of e-scooters are also subject to strict penalties.

We do not rule out starting a licensing regime for PMD-sharing services at a later phase. However, more time is required to understand their operational and safety processes as these services are relatively new and rather limited in Singapore.

Mr Speaker: Mr Dennis Tan.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his answers. The Senior Minister of State mentioned about the new regulations, the registration requirement, and I agree that that may deter reckless riding and illegal riding to some extent. Can I ask the Senior Minister of State what are the current plans to improve better riding etiquette, inconsiderate use of PMD because inconsiderate uses may not amount to an offence? So, a lot of such inconsiderate uses on an everyday basis are not really captured as such. But I think there is a public relations aspect to this, and I think a lot of, especially pedestrians on the ground, are concerned about this. Moving forward, what are the Government's plans to improve this aspect?

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank the Member, Mr Dennis Tan, for the supplementary questions. And allow me to indulge in answering the very pertinent question, which I think many Singaporeans as well as users of PMDs are concerned about.

We adopt a multi-pronged approach to deter reckless riding. One of the measures that we have adopted is education initiatives. We have embarked on a public education campaign. In order to promote gracious sharing of public paths, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) actually launched a wave of communications since early 2017 to raise awareness of the active mobility rules and code of conduct, as well as safe riding habits. And these safety messages have been translated into various languages, including Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Hindi and Bengali. And LTA will continue to raise public awareness of these new active mobility rules as well as the penalties involved if such rules are violated.

At the same time, LTA has also started a Safety Riding Programme since February this year to educate the participants on safe riding practices as well as the rules and conduct under the Active Mobility Act. And this Safe Riding Programme has actually two components. There is a practical component whereby the programme teaches participants how to manoeuvre the bicycles and PMDs safely as well as to react to certain unforeseen circumstances. Of course, there is another component of a didactic lecture which I have already mentioned. In addition to all these educational initiatives, I think the Member is also aware that we have enacted legislative changes, such as the Active Mobility Act, as well as stepping up enforcement actions. LTA has their Active Mobility Enforcement Officers who are stepping up their enforcement actions as well as patrols at all these hot spots where there is a high volume of pedestrians and cyclists. We have also engaged volunteers on the ground to look into educating users on safe riding habits as well.

Thirdly, LTA is also adopting innovative solutions to manage this situation. We have embarked on a trial to study the effectiveness of mobile closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in identifying and reducing errant riding behaviour along public paths. If this proves to be effective, I think we will extend it to more places. Right now, we just piloted it to a few areas like in Ang Mo Kio, Yishun and Ubi.

Mr Speaker: Mr Patrick Tay.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): Just a follow-up supplementary question to the Senior Minister of State. Regarding usage of PMDs, increasingly, we are seeing them being used in private premises, such as shopping malls. Some of these malls and private places are quite porous, and they allow PMDs to move from public to private spaces. Many of these mall owners are at a loss. We have seen situations where there is confrontation when some of these PMD users say, "This is private premises; it is my freedom to use the PMD. Why are you telling me not to?" So, are there measures taken to work with mall owners and perhaps even give more powers to them to help them in that journey to enforce, minimise or eradicate some of these very dangerous, negligent and careless PMD uses?

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank the Member for his supplementary questions. The Active Mobility Act as well as the Parking Places (Amendment) Act deals with situations within public places. With regard to the Member's query as to private places, this is really up to the owners of the private places to come up with measures to prevent illegal use of such mobility devices. Of course, if these private entities need assistance, they can also approach us to step up education to educate PMD users on the right habits as well as riding safety.

At the end of the day, because these are private places, it is up to the private landowners to exercise the due diligence in preventing such use of PMDs in those areas.

Mr Speaker: Mr Zainal Sapari.

Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol): I have one supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. Despite all the measures that we have taken to encourage safe riding behaviour, accidents do happen. And some of these accidents involve my residents. What would the Senior Minister of State suggest the recourse that the accident victim could take where, let us say, the rider has no insurance coverage and neither does the accident victim? Some of the medical costs incurred can be quite high and can be very difficult for the accident victim to claim compensation.

Dr Lam Pin Min: In situations where there are accidents, the first thing that the victim has to do is to report it to the Police so that the necessary investigations can be done. I agree with the Member that, indeed, there has been a rise in the number of accidents involving active mobility devices on public paths. Just to give some statistics, in 2015, we have about 19 cases of reported accidents. And that has increased to 42 in 2016, and 128 in 2017. This is quite a significant increase and we are quite concerned about it as well.

And in light of the increase in active mobility-related accidents, we have also engaged the Active Mobility Advisory Panel to review some of the measures that need to be taken, such as the reduction of speed limits on footpaths, whether there is a need for the usage of helmets, and there are also suggestions to dismount and push at traffic crossings, bus stops as well as in crowded areas, and suggestions on the insurance and compensation framework as well. So, I will leave to the Active Mobility Advisory Panel to advise us. They will be meeting and we will take reference from them.

Mr Speaker: Mr Azmoon Ahmad.

Mr Azmoon Ahmad (Nominated Member): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the elaboration. I have one question. I notice that upon approaching the zebra crossing at every crossroad, it is quite common, at least for me, to see that the PMD riders do not stop but just rush through. Is there a way that we can do something at the crossing so that they will slow down and not rush through the zebra crossing because their speed is much faster than that of the normal pedestrian's? I guess Members know what I mean, right?

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank the Member for the supplementary question. As what the Minister has said, indeed, PMD use, as well as reckless driving, have become one of the hotter topics, rather than trains and buses.

Yes, indeed, I think not only at zebra crossings. Even when the PMD users are actually riding on normal pathways or shared pathways, they have to exercise due diligence and considerations, as well as obey traffic rules. So, public education is important in educating some of these PMD users on how to use the PMDs in a more responsible way. If we are able to achieve that, I think it will be much safer for all users, and we will also be able to achieve our vision of a "car-lite" society.

Mr Speaker: Ms Foo Mee Har.

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): I would like to ask a supplementary question. I think the Senior Minister of State has alluded to a lot about encouraging people to use active mobility devices on the back of assumed success of the education programme because we do not have a law now, or we are just having a law in place.

I want to ask how effective has this education programme been. First, how many have taken the safe riding programme? How many have turned up? How many people actually read those pamphlets? This is so that we know that the educational efforts are making an impact and that we can count on them to make sure that the use of active mobility devices is safe.

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank Member Foo Mee Har for the supplementary questions. I think these are very pertinent questions. Besides public education, I think there are also other measures that LTA and the Ministry of Transport are implementing to make sure that the use of PMDs is safe on our paths.

With regard to public education, the Safe Riding Programme has only started in February this year. So, I urge Members, as well as all Singaporeans, to be a little bit more patient. We will definitely want to step up the public education efforts. At the same time, with the Active Mobility Act being in force since May, I think that will actually serve as a strong deterrent factor for users who ride irresponsibly.