[Update 2 January 2019]
Starting 14 January, shared-bicycle users will start to face an additional $5 charge on top of usual rental fees if they park indiscriminately at the end of their rides.
In an announcement on 27 December, the Land Transport Authority explained that users will be required to scan a QR code to complete their ride.
The QR codes will be found at all acceptable parking areas, which include all yellow boxes and bicycle parking racks.
When a rider parks outside of these areas and fail to scan a QR code, the licensed app they are using will charge them $5 more than their trip’s fare.
Repeating the offence three or more times will also result in a 1-month ban from using all bike-sharing services in Singapore.
Subsequently, users will get barred for 3 months if they get banned a second time, 6 months on their third ban, and a year from their fourth ban onwards.
However, if you park responsibly but come across a damaged or missing QR code, you can snap a photo and send it to your bike-sharing operator in-app to have the $5 charge waived. In such cases, operators will then have to assess whether the claim is legitimate.
Between May 2018 and January 2019, the LTA issued more than 2,000 removal notices for indiscriminately parked shared bicycles.
This new penalty, part of LTA’s licensing regime, aims to “encourage responsible parking habits and manage the disamenities brought about by indiscriminate parking of shared bicycles”.
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The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced in a statement Tuesday (25 September) that a QR code bicycle parking system for bike-sharing users will be launched in January 2019 to curb indiscriminate parking in Singapore.
Users who fail to park within a designated bicycle parking zone and scan the QR code will be fined S$5 by licensed operators, according to LTA.
Those found parking indiscriminately three times in a calendar year will be banned from using all bicycle-sharing services for up to one year.
This has been a long time coming since early this year the authority has implemented new regulations to pressure bike-sharing companies in Singapore to handle rogue users.
Starting from the end of this month, LTA said the QR codes will be installed progressively at public bicycle parking spaces.
A public education campaign on the new QR code bicycle parking system will be rolled out in early October so shared bike users will be able to correctly end their trips.
LTA shared that there are now 207,000 bicycle parking spaces islandwide and they aim to provide 267,000 parking lots for users by 2020.
Early this year, 7,000 new public bicycle parking spaces have been set up at places near public transport nodes, at housing void decks, and public parks.
To date, more than 99% of public housing residents are within a five-minute walk (about 400m) from a bicycle parking space, LTA reported.
Currently, 95% of private residences and 97% of key destinations can access a bicycle parking space within a five-minute walk, up from 90% of private residences and 80% of key destinations at the start of this year.
Key destinations include polyclinics, community centres, schools, and town centres.
Featured Image Credit: Melissa Chan
