Telepod will be charged in court today under the Parking Places Act, for providing Personal Mobility Device-sharing (PMD-sharing) services at public places without a licence or exemption. PMD-sharing operators are currently not permitted to offer PMDs for hire at public places without a licence or an exemption approved by the Minister for Transport^[1].

2.   As of 14 February 2019, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has impounded 68 Telepod PMDs which had been illegally made available for hire at public places. This was after LTA’s repeated written warnings to Telepod that it should not make PMDs available for hire without a licence or prior exemption. LTA has also impounded 131 Neuron Mobility PMDs as of 14 February 2019 and has completed investigations against Neuron Mobility. Neuron Mobility will be charged in court at a later date for providing PMD-sharing services at public places without a licence or exemption.

3.   LTA takes a serious view of the provision of device-sharing services at public places without a licence or exemption. Unlicensed operators can be fined up to $10,000 and/or face a jail term of up to six months; and receive a further fine of $500 per day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.

4.   LTA would like to remind all operators that when evaluating licence applications, LTA will consider their track record, including their compliance with the law and regulatory requirements.


Annex: Photos of the impounded e-scooters from Telepod and Neuron Mobility
 

^[1] To date, exemptions have been granted to some operators such as Telepod and Neuron Mobility to provide PMD-sharing services at specific locations such as one-north. The exemptions were granted due to existing agreements between these operators and the relevant landowner (such as JTC) to conduct PMD-sharing services at those locations. These operators are strictly not allowed to provide PMD-sharing services at other public places.