NUS enforces campus-wide safety timeout on Grab e-scooters

SINGAPORE — Less than four months into a trial for an e-scooter sharing service at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the university has enforced a week-long safety timeout.

GrabWheels, an e-scooter rental service by local tech firm Grab, will not be available to users at NUS’ Kent Ridge Campus from 3pm on Friday (March 8).

In an internal circular to all students and staff — sent barely two hours before the timeout — Dr Peck Thian Guan, director of NUS’ Office of Safety, Health and Environment, said GrabWheels users were not practising safe-riding habits, “despite safety reminders”.

Dr Peck did not elaborate if any particular incident triggered the safety timeout, nor state the number of reminders issued.

The timeout will allow NUS to put in place more “traffic calming” measures, such as rumble strips on slopes, to remind users to slow down, said Dr Peck.

NUS will also ensure that helmets are provided at all 28 GrabWheels parking stations on campus, and conduct roadshows and safety awareness programmes.

“We will also explore other initiatives to instill safe and responsible riding habits,” he added.

Grab announced its e-scooter pilot with NUS last November, launching the service with eight parking stations where users could go to unlock an e-scooter using a beta app. The number of stations was later ramped up to 28.

The trial was intended to allow NUS and Grab to study the feasibility of using e-scooters as an alternative mode of transport as part of a wider campus connectivity network, and has since “proven to be very popular with our students”, said Dr Peck.

“Every day, motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, e-scooter users and users of other personal mobility devices travel across our busy Kent Ridge campus. This makes the responsible use of our shared space particularly important,” he added.

“While e-scooters may provide a quick and convenient way of getting around the campus, we strongly urge users to ride safely and exercise extreme care so as to keep themselves, and other users of our shared space, safe.”

NUS’ GrabWheels service will resume at 7am on March 16.