SINGAPORE — Nearly three weeks after the authorities declared footpaths off-limits to electric scooters, the wheels have come off for a small crop of firms providing guided tours on these vehicles.

One operator, JoyScoot, has put up the shutters. Others are running up thousands of dollars in losses from cancelled bookings.

Some of these firms also provide e-scooter rentals, and are shifting gears to focus on other activities including bicycle and walking tours.

A representative for JoyScoot, which operated a kiosk at the Singapore Flyer, said it has closed because of the ban’s impact on business.

She declined to be named as she did not want to participate in this report.

But the firm said on its website: “Due to the new Singapore regulations, we are no longer providing electric scooter or hoverboard rentals and sales.

“However, our store, The Walking Singapore, located at Esplanade Mall, is open every day.”

The Walking Singapore offers services such as walking tours.  

When TODAY visited the JoyScoot kiosk at the Singapore Flyer last Friday (Nov 22), it was shut. Days earlier, on Tuesday night, staff member Jayson Lim said that business had been sluggish soon after the ban along footpaths set in on Nov 5.

Last Tuesday, JoyScoot earned just S$5 from one rental, Mr Lim said.

The riding prohibition on footpaths meant that the tour routes became limited, he said. JoyScoot used to conduct several guided tours in a month.

LOSSES

City Scoot, another operator, has also discontinued its guided tours on e-scooters, its manager Kenny Chang told TODAY at its store on North Bridge Road last week.

The ban has hit business by 90 per cent, said Mr Chang.

Licensed guides conducted its tours, which covered areas such as Marina Bay, the Esplanade and Gardens by the Bay East.

City Scoot has about 100 e-scooters, which were part of a fleet refresh in June to comply with the UL2272 fire-safety standard mandated by the authorities.

Mr Chang said the firm has had to cancel 10 to 20 tour bookings, and another 20 e-scooter rental reservations, that were scheduled for as late as February next year. He estimated the losses to be between S$7,000 and S$10,000.

As for day-to-day e-scooter rentals, its takings have tumbled to S$200 a day, from S$1,500 before the ban.

Mr Chang said City Scoot hoped to work with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to ask for an exemption from the ban for e-scooter guided tours.

Mr Robin Loh, owner of Let’s Go Tour Singapore, which ran e-scooter tours through its brand Let’s Go Bike Singapore, said he would support such an exemption.

But he acknowledged that this would be difficult to obtain. “Of course I would love that this happens, but I remain sceptical,” he said.

After the ban took effect, his firm has had to cancel two corporate bookings in the last fortnight or so, one for a German group of 60. It would forgo S$3,000 to S$4,000 from these cancellations, said Mr Loh.

While the ban came at a time when e-scooter tours were gaining popularity, Mr Loh said they were a “small subset” of its business, where bicycle tours are its mainstay.

“We are not badly hit in that sense. But it just closed off one opportunity,” he added.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, STB said it had discussed the matter with the transport authorities.

It will not seek an exemption from the footpath ban for tour operators, said Mr Kenneth Lim, STB’s director of travel agents and tourist guides.

“We have reached out to affected tour operators, and will support them in adapting their tours and operations to be in line with the regulations,” said Mr Lim.

“This includes identifying alternative tour routes on cycling paths and the park-connector network, and changing the mode of commuting from PMDs (personal mobility devices) to bicycles.”

On how STB would work with operators to find a balance between ensuring footpath safety, and vibrancy and choice in the tourism industry, Mr Lim said it had started initiatives such as the Tour Design Challenge, which encourages the development of local tours.

These moves, combined with the Experience Step-Up Fund, which supports the development of tourism experiences here, have spawned innovative tours, including a yacht tour and bicycle tours, he said.

A spokesperson for the Land Transport Authority said that companies wishing to include active-mobility modes of travel into their business models may approach the agency for more information on safe and responsible operations within the regulatory framework.

MINIMAL IMPACT ON OTHER FIRMS

Meanwhile, at Singapore City Explorers, managing director Rene Ng said the travel agency did its last e-scooter tour on Nov 4, the day the ban was announced in Parliament.

His company’s e-scooter tour service ran on a smaller scale than the others interviewed. It owns three e-scooters and rents where necessary.

Mr Ng said demand for e-scooter tours has always been tepid. “I am not impacted much,” he told TODAY from his office along North Bridge Road.

Other firms that TODAY interviewed dabble in rentals and tours using other mobility vehicles, such as the two-wheeled Segway.

Mr Joshua Wong, a staff member at O-Ride Singapore Mini Segway Tours at Kallang Wave Mall, said the business continues to run tours spanning areas such as Tanjung Rhu Bridge and Marina Bay.

Its route covers only park connectors. “Recently, business has been slow,” he said.

Ms Janice Lim, general manager of Gogreen Holdings, which runs Segway Tours Singapore, said the operator used to have a store at Marina Bay, but it stopped operations earlier this year.

It continues to operate on the Sentosa resort island, where its tours and rentals are unaffected because it is a private space, she said.

Its rental services continue in areas such as Downtown East in Pasir Ris, where the operator caters to resort visitors who wish to explore Pasir Ris Park via its bicycle lanes.

In addition to e-scooters, other motorised PMDs will be barred from footpaths progressively by the first three months of next year.

SCRAPPING OR EXPORTING E-SCOOTERS

As for the operators hit by the ban, some are looking to scrap or export their now-idle e-scooters.

Mr Loh of Let’s Go Tour Singapore said he would probably scrap his 10 or so e-scooters by turning them in to qualify for an early-disposal incentive.

Owners who discard their non-compliant e-scooters at designated disposal points early will qualify for a S$100 incentive for each device. From next July, all devices here must be certified to the UL2272 fire-safety standard.

As for City Scoot, Mr Chang declined to reveal the company’s plans. But he said the firm was searching for contacts to export its e-scooters.

“Now everything is down the drain,” he said.