Veteran opposition politician and head of the People’s Power Party (PPP) Goh Meng Seng referred to the S$7 million E-Scooter Trade-in Grant as the ‘Grant of Death’ in a social media post on November 23.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that the “PAP government should stop the $7 million grant to Delivery Riders immediately”. He draws similarities between Power Assisted Bicycles (PABs), or e-bikes, and motorcycles, adding that “Motorcycles have one of the highest fatal accident rate in Singapore, despite of having all riders taking Highway Code and Driving test”.
“Encouraging PMD riders to take up Ebikes on the road WITHOUT giving them proper training and licensing test is extremely dangerous and irresponsible.
This is basically the Grant of Death, so to speak” Goh said.
He opined that the grant given to delivery riders is a “RASH Knee Jerk decision made to solve a problem created by the FIRST Rash Knee Jerk decision of banning PMD from foothpaths without much planning nor careful considerations”.
He wrote that PABs should be regulated as well, “even more so than PMD(s)”.
The S$7 million e-scooter Trade-in Grant (eTG), was set up to provide funding assistance for the affected food delivery riders to switch to bicycles, Power Assisted Bicycles (PABs) or Personal Mobility Aids (PMAs). Under this scheme, LTA will match dollar-for-dollar the food delivery companies’ funding support for their food delivery riders who trade in their existing e-scooters for alternative LTA-approved devices – and each rider will receive an eTG of up to S$1,000 for PABs or S$600 for bicycle.
In a statement by the Ministry of Transport, they add, “This decision to prohibit e-scooters from footpaths was a difficult one and arose because of many instances of irresponsible riding. Even as the delivery riders switch to other modes of transport, they should be mindful of safety both for themselves and other path and road users. They should strictly abide by the safety rules, including speed limits, so as not to cause unnecessary injury”. /TISG