Owners of e-scooters can register their devices from 2 January

E-scooter owners, who can start registering their devices from 2 January 2019, are reminded that they must do so by the end of June.

The LTA will open registration for e-scooters on 2 January 2019, those who register before 31 March will have the $20 fee waived

Those who fail to register their e-scooters by the dateline may face a fine or jail, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Wednesday (12 December).

Registration can be done at SingPost post offices or on the LTA's OneMotoring website for a fee of $20. Those who register before 31 March will have the fee waived.

This follows the Government's acceptance in March of the Active Mobility Advisory Panel's proposal to make registration of e-scooters mandatory.

Those who register their e-scooters must be above the age of 16, and must declare that the devices meet criteria such as a maximum weight of 20kg and a top speed of 25km/h. Those found to have made false declarations face fines of up to $5,000 and a year's imprisonment.

Only e-scooters - defined as motorised personal mobility devices (PMDs) with handlebars - need to be registered. No registration is required for personal mobility aids, such as electric wheelchairs, or other PMDs such as hoverboards or electric unicycles. Once the device is successfully registered, users will be issued with a unique registration number that needs to appear on an identification plate - similar to those for motor vehicles - to be affixed on their e-scooter.

Those found riding unregistered e-scooters will face fines of up to $2,000 and up to three months jail

The LTA will also issue a separate registration mark that must also be displayed prominently on the e-scooters. Those who register their devices by 30 June next year will have a grace period of 14 days to affix both marks, beyond which they face a fine of up to $1,000 and up to three months in jail.

From July next year, those found riding unregistered e-scooters on public paths face fines of up to $2,000 and up to three months' jail for a first offence.

"These measures are aimed at deterring reckless riding and facilitating enforcement efforts against errant riders to improve public safety for all path users," said the LTA. Separately, the authority also reminded retailers that all PMDs sold here must comply with the UL2272 fire safety standard from July next year.

While PMDs that do not meet the standard can be still be registered, they will not be allowed for use on public paths from January 2021. A list of devices which meet the standard can be found on LTA's website. "For the safety of device owners and those around them, LTA strongly encourages all owners to use UL2272-certified devices only," said the authority.