Around 30 signed up to meet Lam Pin Min over e-scooter ban
SINGAPORE — About 30 members of the public have indicated their interest to meet Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport Lam Pin Min on Tuesday (12 November) to address their concerns over the recent e-scooter ban.
Lam, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sengkang West SMC, is slated to turn up for his weekly Meet the People Session held at Anchorvale Community Centre’s multi-purpose hall at 8pm later Tuesday.
The list of “signees” has been circulating in Telegram group PMD Sengkang Meet the MP where over 240 are members of. A set of dos and don’ts for participants, authored by a Guo Qiang, includes putting on their best behaviour and making it a “civil meeting”.
This comes after a new $7 million dollar grant was announced last Friday to help food delivery riders switch their e-scooters to other modes of transport. The grant was announced three days after a ban of the devices on footpaths took effect.
Over the past week, several PMD riders have attended Meet the People Sessions with their MPs, including Jurong GRC MP Ang Wei Neng as well as Nee Soon GRC MP Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam.
The Land Transport Authority said that as of 9am on Sunday, it has issued more than 760 warnings since the ban, during an “advisory period” that will last until the end of the year.
From 1 January, there will be strict enforcement of the ban, with those caught flouting it liable to face a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up to three month’s jail.
There were 184 off-road accidents involving PMDs from January to September this year, with 64 per cent of them taking place on footpaths, Lam revealed at a media briefing last Friday. Three fatalities arising from such accidents have occurred in recent months.
This includes 65-year-old cyclist Ong Bee Eng, who died in September after an e-scooter rider collided with her.
There are currently about 100,000 registered e-scooters in Singapore. About 7,000 food delivery riders from GrabFood, Deliveroo, and Foodpanda use PMDs.
A Change.org petition calling for the ban to be rescinded has garnered close to 25,000 signatories as of Tuesday afternoon.
More Singapore stories:
$7 million grant to help food delivery riders switch e-scooters to other devices: MOT
PMD retailers, sharing operators frustrated with e-scooters on footpath ban
