Shared bicycle users who park indiscriminately to face additional charges, ban periods
From 14 January, users of shared bicycles who fail to properly park at designated parking areas will be charged an additional $5 by the respective service operators.
Those who indiscriminately park any shared bicycle in public places “three times or more in a calendar year will be banned from using all bicycle-sharing services for a month”, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in a news release on Thursday (27 December).
“This ban period will increase with every subsequent ban,” the authority added.
Second bans will last three months while fourth – and subsequent – bans will be for a year. Those who avoid being penalised for indiscriminate parking for a year following the last day of their ban will have their ban count reset to zero.
Encouraging good habits
The move is part of a new licensing regime for bicycle-sharing service operators and is meant both “encourage responsible parking habits” as well as “manage disamenities brought about by indiscriminate parking of shared bicycles”.
These new penalties will kick in on the same date that the new quick response (QR) code parking system for shared bicycles comes into effect. Under the system, shared bicycle users will have to park in a designated parking area and then scan the spot’s QR code before their bicycle is considered properly parked.
Ahead of the QR code system coming into effect, some bicycle sharing operators – such as SG Bike and Anywheel – will be launching beta versions of the QR code scanning function on their respective mobile apps from Friday. This is so that users can familiarise themselves with the system.
No additional fees will be imposed for improper parking until the requirement takes effect on 14 January.
Education campaign launched
To educate shared bicycle users on how to end their trips properly, the LTA has also launched a public education campaign that includes walkway banners at MRT stations, table-top stickers at hawker centres, as well as print, broadcast and digital advertorials.
There are currently 211,000 bicycle parking lots across the island. Nearly all homes and public amenities are within a 400m radius from a public bicycle parking facility. By 2020, the government will provide over 267,000 bicycle parking lots across the island for users, said the LTA.
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