SINGAPORE — Some condominiums here are resorting to banning or restricting access to personal mobility devices (PMDs) or motorcycles of food delivery riders over concerns at their haphazard parking, speeding and other errant behaviour.

This has left affected riders frustrated at the extra time it takes to walk in order to deliver food and fearful that enforcement action may be taken if they break the rules by parking illegally, for example.

Mr Goh Yong Wei, president of National Delivery Champions Association (NDCA), which represents food and package delivery riders, said condominiums restricting access to riders is becoming more common.

"As deliveries are becoming an essential part of life now, I urge building owners to allocate a certain space, or at least a safe area where food or parcel deliverers can park and work safely to fulfil residents' orders," he told TODAY.

"There are also condos which 'roti prata' decisions, (they) allow deliveries, and then change their decision again and again. It does happen from time to time," said Mr Goh, using a colloquial term to refer to decisions being flipped.

The manager of a condo in Farrer Park who declined to be named or to identify the condo said that its management had restricted access to food delivery riders on motorcycles and PMDs since 2020.

The policy was introduced as a result of incidents such as a near collision with a resident due to reckless driving by a food delivery rider, she added.

Other issues that the condo faced were riders not listening to instructions and parking haphazardly.

The issue has come to the fore at Eight Riversuites condo in Whampoa East which for a time effectively banned vehicles used by food delivery riders from entering the premises.

WHAT RIDERS SAY

When TODAY visited the condo on Tuesday (April 25), five riders were seen parking illegally on the pavement directly outside the condo entrance, and walking in to deliver food.

A sixth rider, who declined to be named, had parked at public housing blocks nearby and walked five minutes to the condo as he was worried that he would be "summoned" by the authorities.

"I have been delivering to this condo for the past few years on occasion, and there was no issue. But when I came here to deliver in the past few days, the security told me that we cannot park inside. I was quite shocked," said the rider.

He added that he had to communicate with the customer to give him extra time to walk over from where his bike was parked.

In an incident reported on April 24 by the Stomp website of national daily The Straits Times, Land Transport Authority (LTA) officers could be seen surrounding an e-bike at Eight Riversuites on April 11.

Rider Amiruddin Mansor, who spoke to TODAY between deliveries at Eight Riversuites, said that he was worried "if LTA comes".

"There might be some condos that turn you away, but it's not common at all in my experience to be not allowed to park inside a condo," he added.

Another rider near the condo, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chin, said that he was exasperated, but he felt like there was no other choice but to park outside.

"If LTA summons me, I have to deal with it, there's no other way," Mr Chin said.

"What else can I do? Maybe if residents complained about the parking outside then there might be something that will be done."

Responding to TODAY's queries about enforcement action taken at Eight Riversuites, LTA said on May 2: "On April 11, LTA's active mobility enforcement officers impounded a non-compliant power-assisted bicycle (PAB) on a footpath along Whampoa East for further investigations.

"For safety reasons, PABs must meet a series of technical requirements such as weight and power output limits," said LTA.

LTA did not elaborate on the specific area on non-compliance in this instance.

According to LTA's website, riders of active mobility devices, including bicycles and PMDs, should "park [their] devices at designated parking places such as bicycle racks and yellow boxes". 

Responding to TODAY's queries on Friday, the management of Eight Riversuites said that it has reviewed its policy on delivery riders, who are now allowed to enter the condo premises and park after registration.

"During the period where reviews were ongoing, delivery riders were kindly requested to enter the estate on foot for the main reason of the safety for all," a spokesperson said.

Errant behaviour included riders going against the flow of traffic despite instructions provided, and near-misses with residents involving toddlers, the elderly and other vulnerable persons.

"Safety is our utmost priority for both residents as well as visitors who visit our condominium, including people who make deliveries."

TODAY has asked the management of Eight Riversuites when the change came into effect.

SOME UNRULY BEHAVIOUR BY RIDERS

Although many condos that TODAY spoke to said that there were largely no issues with food delivery riders, some still expressed discomfort over riders speeding, using the wrong lifts, and parking in residents' parking lots.

Apart from clamping the wheels of some offending vehicles, most of the condos said they did not take any further action.

A managing agent at Sage Condominium in Nassim Road, who declined to be named, said the condo has adequate parking lots, so the management is able to "close one eye" if the rider parks at the resident lots instead of the visitor lot.

He added that riders take private lifts despite instructions to use the service lifts only, and this causes concerns for residents. The management has not made any decision on banning riders.

Another manager at a condo in Clementi who declined to be named or to identify the condo said that riders park in residents' parking lots.

After an initial warning to the rider following a resident's complaint, the condo will clamp the offending vehicle, he added.

An assistant condo manager at Melville Park in Simei, who wished to be known only as Mr Dubey, said there have been no issues over delivery riders parking at the condo though there had been isolated cases of them causing a nuisance.

These instances might spur some Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) councils of condos to make decisions to resolve the food delivery rider issue, he said.

SOME LEGITIMATE REASONS TO RESTRICT ACCESS: RIDERS' BODY

NDCA's Mr Goh said that condos may have legitimate reasons for restricting the entry of food delivery riders such as having limited space or a car park that does not allow access to visitor vehicles.

In other cases, a condo's MCST may implement such a policy after residents decide to disallow visitors or contractors to park.

Mr Alexandre Collin, MCST president at One Shenton, said that the condo's car park access is automated and so cannot provide instant access to riders. 

"In our condo, the space we have put aside is at the bin centre, where riders can park, use the intercom to communicate with security, and have a convenient access to complete their deliveries." said Mr Collin.

"We want to make it easy for the delivery rider as well, and we have put in the technology (the intercom) to do so."

Mr Goh acknowledged the efforts of some condos to consider the requirements of delivery riders.

"Kudos to these MCSTs for making life easier for delivery contractors, but in return riders should always park in an unobstructed manner and be considerate. It takes two hands to clap," he said.

Mr Dennis Tan, secretary of the MCST Association of Singapore, however said that some MCST decisions could be problematic as the decision makers are residents and do not come from a management or professional background.

"We understand that there might be issues caused by riders, but we also believe that riders should be afforded respect and the ability to do their jobs delivering to residents without difficulties," said Mr Tan.

He said that the MCST Association is working with relevant agencies to provide guidelines to condos regarding last-mile deliveries.

Responding to queries from TODAY on May 2, a Building and Construction Authority (BCA) spokesperson said that the authority was aware of the incident at Eight Riversuites from media reports.

The spokesperson said that parking arrangements at a condo are among the issues that are the collective responsibility of all unit owners as members of the management corporation.

The governance adopted by management corporations "can be based on the unique characteristics of each development and the needs and concerns" of unit owners, it added.

TODAY has reached out to Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for comment. URA had previously issued guidelines to shopping malls to set aside waiting bays for delivery riders.