Electric vehicles for short distance travel

More people are now using bicycles for short trips, e.g. to the MRT station. They have to use pedestrian walkways as there are no separate lanes for bicycles and it is dangerous to cycle on the main roads. Pedestrians have complained about the safety hazard.

Some cyclists have asked for separate lanes to be provided for them. However, this is not an efficient solution. If more people cycle to the MRT station, there will be insufficient parking space for the bicycles and the risk of theft and vandalism. Bicycles are not suitable for rainy days.

A better system is to use small electrically driven vehicles (like a golf cart) on a for time based hiring.  The vehicles can be parked in various locations in a town and used by the public (who have to register as members) to move from one station to another. This system requires the initiative of the town council to provide parking spaces and to have separate paths for the vehicles.

Paris is implementing such a system.

Tan Kin Lian