PMAs

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Hougang): In the recent review of existing regulations for PMAs, such as mobility scooters, the Active Mobility Advisory Panel recommended a speed limit of six kilometres per hour and for users to be medically certified. I agree that there should be a reasonable speed limit, given the risk of collisions with pedestrians sharing the same path. Having said that, I also received feedback that a speed of six kilometres per hour is a bit too slow, especially for some seniors who are used to using mobility scooters to travel beyond their immediate neighbourhoods and the reduced speed would also mean longer travelling time for some. I understand that six kilometres per hour is tied to average walking speed, but I wonder whether the proposed speed can be slightly higher than six kilometres per hour, at least for wider or less busy paths. 

AMAP has recommended to allow only users who are certified to have medical needs or walking difficulties to use mobility scooters. I hope this medical certification restriction will not be applied too rigidly. Some seniors may not be able to walk very far before they need to rest, due to declining physical ability, and not necessarily due to serious illness or diagnosed conditions with their lower limbs or spinal areas. PMAs do provide seniors with confidence to be out and about, which is a good thing. May I suggest the use of PMAs be extended to seniors reaching a certain age, for example, 67 or 70?

Like enforcement against illegal use of PMDs, such as e-scooters or hoverboards on roads or footpaths, which unfortunately we still see today, though less frequently than before, for the new measures to work effectively, there must be regular enforcement against illegal or unsafe use as well as against non-compliant mobility scooters, as the lack of enforcement will encourage non-compliance. Regarding enforcement efforts against PMAs able to travel beyond the prescribed speed, I note that for current e-bikes, though there may be officers at certain busy spots carrying out spot checks, we still see e-bikes exceeding the permitted speed limits, sometimes even on par with the vehicles travelling alongside them on the roads, far exceeding the 25 kilometres per hour limit. I hope LTA will consider more stringent enforcement measures to deter speeding for all mobility devices, including measures against shops that help to tweak the speed mechanisms of devices.

Regular enforcement must come hand in hand with good public education. LTA must consider how to push out the messaging on the new rules via mainstream and social media to achieve good public knowledge and consciousness. Public education should not be merely for the mobility scooter users, but for the public at large. Public knowledge of what is allowed and what is no allowed will, I believe, enhance compliance and encourage considerate use by all. 

The Minister for Transport (Mr Chee Hong Tat):

Many Members have spoken on this matter – Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Mr Gerald Giam, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Ms Poh Li San, Mr Dennis Tan and Ms Yeo Wan Ling. I am glad that Members from both sides of the House agree with our position that safety must come first and that enforcement is important to complement the engagement and education efforts.

Public paths are used by many pedestrians, including seniors and young children. Cyclists and PMA users should be considerate, slow down and give way to pedestrians. It is not right to jeopardise public safety for personal convenience. Safety must come first.

The large majority of cyclists and PMA users do pay attention to safety and I thank them for doing their part. For the minority who endanger the safety of other path users, we will take enforcement action against them. Those who ride recklessly on paths can be fined up to $10,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 12 months.

I would like to express my appreciation to our enforcement officers, or “path protectors”, for their hard work to engage and educate path users and to enforce against errant individuals. Your job is not easy, but it is an important mission to protect the safety of all path users. So, please continue to do it well, without fear or favour. We will support you and we will back you up.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport (Mr Baey Yam Keng): Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Mr Dennis Tan and other MPs had asked about regulations on the use of PMAs. As earlier mentioned by the Minister, the Government accepts AMAP’s recommendations on PMA regulations. They were put up after careful consideration and in consultation with various stakeholders. In arriving at this decision, the Government’s key consideration is to ensure that users with genuine needs for PMAs continue to be able to use them while ensuring the safety of all path users.

We had engaged key stakeholders, including the National Delivery Champions Association, food delivery platforms, PMA retailers and social service agencies working with seniors and persons with disabilities, or PwDs. Various members of the public have also written in to share their views and concerns. We would like to thank all stakeholders for their feedback.

First, the speed limit of all PMAs will be lowered from 10 to six kilometres per hour. Some have shared that this may be too slow. For some perspective, 10 kilometres per hour is running speed, whereas our typical walking speed is between four and six kilometres per hour. Six kilometres per hour is a brisk walking speed, that is definitely not an average walking speed, as mentioned by Mr Dennis Tan. It is a speed that even some able-bodied people may not be able to sustain for an extended period.

We understand that many existing PMAs have a speed limit of 10 kilometres per hour. There is no need for existing users to stop using or replace their current devices; they just need to ride no faster than six kilometres per hour. When they next replace their PMA, the new device should have a speed limit of six kilometres per hour.

Meanwhile, there are various ways for users to gauge their speeds and ensure they are within the limits. They can use free mobile applications or get a speedometer for less than S$10. More simply, if you find yourself riding faster than those walking around you, you are likely to be above the limit.

Generally, stakeholders understood the intent of AMAP’s recommendations and supported them. Nonetheless, there were some concerns raised and these have been invaluable in our assessment of AMAP’s recommendations. They will also help us better implement them. I will address these concerns later in my speech.

Ms Poh Li San and Mr Dennis Tan asked whether we can automatically qualify seniors above a certain age to use PMAs. We do not intend to do so, as there are many seniors today who have no difficulty walking and we want to encourage them to keep walking to stay active and healthy. This is in line with our Age Well SG initiative, to enhance our commuter infrastructure for walking, as announced by Senior Minister of State Khor earlier.

The Chairman: Dr Dennis Tan.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Chairman, I have two supplementary questions, one for the Minister for Transport. As the Minister has shared, it is good to encourage and make available the uses of different sustainable fuel options like methanol in the busy port of Singapore. However, I think we are the top bunkering port in the world and there are many other ships that come here to take on bunkers. 

What efforts are being made to encourage ship owners, firstly, within our registry of Singapore and, secondly, ship owners that use our facilities both in and outside port limits, to encourage them to switch to more sustainable options? May I take the opportunity to complement the existing work that has been done by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation. But I look forward to the Minister’s clarification.

The second question is for Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey. Can I just echo my colleague, Mr Gerald Giam, on his concern about the width of certain footpaths? Indeed, not all footpaths are as per the measurement that Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey just shared. Actually, just two days ago, I was at a traffic junction when I saw a PMA stopped in the middle of the road and was trying to gesticulate to get the attention of a cyclist who stopped right at the traffic light, trying to cross the other way. Then, I realised what happened after a couple of seconds, because the PMA rider was trying to ask the cyclist to make way so that he can get on to that little island before he crossed onto the subsequent zebra crossing. So, there are footpaths in Singapore that may not be able to allow two devices.

Could I ask that LTA do a more comprehensive review of footpaths and consider how, in the longer run perhaps, or in the medium term, how footpaths can be expanded to provide for safe and better usage of all devices as well as pedestrians?

Mr Chee Hong Tat: Mr Chairman, the question about bunkering, first of all, this is something which the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has already set as a target that they want the international shipping industry to move towards. So, there is already that impetus for shipping lines to look at how to reduce their carbon emissions gradually over time. Of course, we are mindful that this process has to be gradual because ships that are already built, they cannot overnight be switching to cleaner fuels. So, you have to do this in a gradual way.

When they replace their existing vessels with new builds or when they upgrade their engines, that is when they can put in the option for the ships to take cleaner fuels or to take dual fuels. So, we will continue to work closely with IMO and with the industry and our unions to prepare for this process. There are a few pieces here that are important. I will be brief, Mr Chairman.

First is that we need to make sure that the infrastructure is there. So, both the shore-based infrastructure as well as when they come into our ports, the availability of the service, both shore-to-ship as well as potentially ship-to-ship kind of services, will be available.

Second will be to look at safety because as Mr Neil Parekh mentioned earlier, we need to train our workers to be ready for handling these cleaner fuels. Just to give an example. Traditional bunker fuel, if there is a spill, it goes into the water, you have an oil spill. But if you use ammonia, actually, it goes into the air and instead of having an oil spill, we will have a plume cloud. So, it is very different. And the way we handle these emergency scenarios, our workers need to be ready, our security and emergency services need to be ready.

If I may just comment quickly, Mr Chairman, before I invite Senior Parliamentary Secretary to reply to Mr Dennis Tan’s second question. We will try our best to improve the footpath infrastructure. One of the things, if Members could look at different places around Singapore, we have been working closely with PUB to cover up the open drains and then to widen the footpaths, where possible, so that we can then have a pedestrian lane and a cycling lane. This helps to be able to separate the different devices so that we give pedestrians and also cyclists, PMA users, greater assurance, greater peace of mind when they use the paths.

But having said that, it is not always possible because there are areas where, due to space constraints, site constraints, we may not be able to do that. So, the key is where we cannot do that or even where we can do that, people need to use the paths responsibly and safely and be considerate and gracious.

The Chairman: Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey, anything to add?

Mr Baey Yam Keng: Just to say that that is why we are promoting the gracious path-sharing culture. That is more important.

Ministry of Transport
5 March 2024

https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2377