SINGAPORE — All three food delivery companies here — Deliveroo, Foodpanda and GrabFood — have stopped hiring new e-scooter riders, and say most of their existing ones have successfully applied for grants to help them switch to electric bikes or bicycles. 

A handful of riders, however, are sticking to their e-scooters, telling TODAY they will continue using them for deliveries.

This is despite the fact that two companies — Deliveroo and Foodpanda — have already blocked e-scooter riders from taking orders.

The main reasons for not switching? They do not want to endanger themselves on the roads by riding e-bikes, and are taking their chances to make ends meet.

‘FOOTPATHS SAFER THAN ROADS’

Full-time food delivery rider Kelvin Ho still rides his e-scooter for deliveries, but does so only on park connectors and bicycle paths, which his delivery area in Jurong has in abundance, he told TODAY. 

The 33-year-old will cancel orders whenever the delivery location is accessible only by footpaths, and take detours so as not to flout the rules. 

E-scooter riders can trade in their devices to claim a maximum of S$600 to purchase a bicycle, and S$1,000 for an e-bike, as part of a government scheme to help affected deliverymen. 

But the potential reimbursement is not attractive to Mr Ho, who spent about S$2,000 on his e-scooter, twice the maximum that can be claimed.

“No point changing to bicycle or e-bike. I don’t want any (accidents to) happen again and then there will be another change of the rules,” he said. 

There are also riders who will continue to flout the rules despite the ban being enforced since the start of this year. 

A part-time food delivery rider, who wanted to be known only as Javier, said that he still uses his e-scooter on footpaths because it is less dangerous to share the space with people than to compete with vehicles on roads. 

“Sharing the lane with motor vehicles, they will like to cut (past) you because e-bikes have a 25kmh speed limit, so it’s quite dangerous,” said the 21-year-old. 

On Sunday (Jan 5), a 69-year-old e-bike rider was killed in an accident along Cantonment Road. Police investigations are still in progress. 

In the long term, Javier said he plans to do his deliveries on a motorbike; he is saving up to get his licence. 

“Some e-bikes can be over S$1,000, and are quite expensive. The grant cannot cover the full cost and I have to pay the remainder, and I’ll be losing my PMD as well,” he said. 

MOST E-SCOOTER RIDERS BLOCKED FROM APPS

Since the Dec 31 deadline for trade-in grant applications, Deliveroo and Foodpanda have seen 25 per cent and 75 per cent of their delivery riders, respectively, sign up. 

Seven in 10 applications have been approved for Foodpanda, which has stopped assigning deliveries to e-scooter riders since mid-December. 

Deliveroo has blocked personal mobility device (PMD) riders from its platform since Jan 1, and said that most of its riders’ grants have been approved.

And although it has stopped onboarding e-scooter riders, GrabFood has not banned them on its platform but is monitoring feedback.

“We have received feedback from our delivery partners that it is increasingly challenging to deliver food on e-scooters,” said a Grab spokesperson. “We will be reviewing if the vehicle remains a viable mode of delivery.”

GrabFood has extended its grant application deadline to Jan 14, and as of Wednesday, it has seen 65 per cent of its eligible e-scooter riders apply for it. Of these, at least 90 per cent were approved and 23 per cent who applied have completed their claims. 

A five-day safety training course by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) — of which one of the courses is co-designed by GrabFood — has also been completed by 146 delivery riders, according to NTUC. 

Launched in December, the course is designed to educate food delivery riders on traffic rules, vehicle safety checks and maintenance, and navigation in off-road and on-road scenarios.