Challenges IN IMPLEMENTING NEW Rules
If many other distribution riders plan to do the same as Mr Chen, there will be wider repercussions: There could be a surge in PMD-related crimes and accidents, said transportation and accessibility experts, adding that this should be monitored carefully.
According to the Ministry of Transport ( MOT ),  , between January and October 2023, there were about 1, 200 PMD-related offences compared to four PMA-related offences.
Transport analyst Walter Theseira said:” There is clearly great demand for a easy, low-cost, moderate-speed and motorised regional transit system.
We saw that with PMDs, and PMAs, as well. The associate professor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences ( SUSS) said,” You can regulate it but that demand does n’t disappear.”
MOT and LTA stated in their combined response to Now that they discovered that the stakeholders typically agreed with the Amap recommendations but that there must be more time for the damaged riders.
They said,” This is why the government gave us a transition period of at least a year before the novel demands would start in 2025.”
Although it is not a simple matter because several factors have to be considered, authorities agreed regulations are required.
Medical requires
According to Dr. Samuel Chng from the Singapore University of Technology and Design ( SUTD), PMAs are” significantly different” from PMDs in the sense that the former are intended to assist people who have a genuine, medical need for assistance moving around.
Therefore, Dr. Chng, who oversees the Urban Psychology Lab at the Lee Kuan Yew Center for Innovative Cities at the university, says the timing and method of implementing the PMA regulations must be set up in a way that does n’t unintentionally lead to the exclusion of those who actually need them.
For instance, the level for what kind of health condition may require some time to be standardized and made known.
Avoiding costs for stores
According to Assistant Professor Terence Fan from the Singapore Management University ( SMU), the government must strike a balance between enforcing regulations and allowing retailers to gradually reduce their inventory.
Retailers who purchased PMAs with a speed limit of more than 6 kmh would need to wait before selling their current property because the controller had obviously not be compensated should they be unable to do so before the speed limit is fully implemented, he said.
When the authorities immediately banned the use of e-scooters on shared paths with result from Nov 5, 2019, amid a flurry of major accidents,  , a S$ 7 million grant , was introduced to help supply riders travel to different forms of transportation.
But merchants at that time bemoaned the” hundreds of thousands of dollars “worth of e-scooters, which they had only brought in for” Singles ‘ Day” sales on Nov 11 that time, that suddenly became” unusable”.  ,
This time around, Falcon Mobility’s managing director, Mr. Warren Chew, claimed his company has previously reprogrammed the PMAs they currently have in order to comply with the lower speed control. Additionally, he has informed his distributors that they will continue to provide devices that meet the needs.
However, TODAY’s research on a dozen online retailers and one natural keep revealed that they are still selling higher-speed PMAs. These stores did not respond to TODAY’s questions on what they are planning to do to adapt , to the new regulations.