24 PMD lockers installed in Ang Mo Kio
Storage space in Cheng San CC part of housing estate's push as a model cycling town
Ang Mo Kio residents will soon find it more convenient to zip around their estate on their e-scooters.
Cheng San Community Club (CC) in Ang Mo Kio has installed lockers for residents to store their personal mobility devices as part of a broader push to encourage more people to use such devices as well as walk and cycle around the housing estate.
It is the first CC in Singapore providing the service. Other CCs in Ang Mo Kio are studying whether to install such lockers.
MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Ang Hin Kee said: "The residents come to the CC for activities on their personal mobility devices. Some of their devices are expensive, and they want to lock them up."
It cost about $12,000 to install 24 lockers of three different sizes. They are free for use until May 1, and the CC will decide on charges after that.
Items cannot be stored overnight, a CC staff member said.
Ang Mo Kio is being developed as a model cycling town and is used as a test bed for cycling infrastructure that could eventually be replicated islandwide.
A 4km cycling path that loops around the estate was completed in July last year, and it will take another two years before all cycling infrastructure is installed.
Besides Ang Mo Kio, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has also earmarked Tampines as the next walking and cycling town.
The locker service was launched at a road safety carnival yesterday by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is also an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC.
About 2,000 people tried out personal mobility devices such as e-scooters and unicycles for free.
ROAD SAFETY PARK
A sheltered game court was also turned into a makeshift road safety park to educate primary school pupils on road safety .
At the carnival, Mr Lee put on a cycling helmet and posed for photographs in front of the lockers with an e-scooter, along with other MPs in the GRC - Mr Ang, Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar and Mr Darryl David.
Besides providing services such as storage lockers, the GRC is also expanding its pool of volunteers to educate residents on the safe use of personal mobility devices.
Mr Lee yesterday presented certificates to four grassroots leaders spearheading the education drive at various parts of the GRC.
One of them was aircraft technician Pragash Kularsagar, who leads a team of six volunteers who fan out in the Teck Ghee neighbourhood during the weekends to hand out flyers.
"We talk to the residents, but we do not confront those who ride dangerously," said the 50-year-old.
"We leave that to LTA."
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