Vlogger demonstrates the challenges of delivering GrabFood orders to customers on foot

The ongoing issue about the prohibition of electric scooters on footpaths is… complicated. 

Right now, it’s clearly a head-splitting issue for the powers that be — a law suddenly passed in Parliament has created an influx of forthright backlash from the very people who rely on e-scooters to make a living: food delivery riders. 

It’s a tricky balance, that’s for sure. On the one hand, the government had to react swiftly and strongly to the concerning number of serious e-scooter accidents that keeps increasing despite various measures. 

On the other hand, the zero-tolerance approach would affect the law-abiding riders who use e-scooters for gainful employment in the gig economy as food delivery personnel under the likes of GrabFood and Foodpanda. 

One GrabFood rider with his own YouTube channel called Guide to GrabFood is not on board at all with the changes to the law. In a vlog posted on Monday (Nov 11), he expressed his thoughts out loud during a journey delivering an order in Tampines by foot. An e-scooter accompanied his travels, but the vlogger did not ride it during the course of filming.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJrYJM3Y-EE[/embed]

“I mean, no problem for me. I can walk, I can do this — push my PMD (personal mobility device) and walk to the customer’s place. If there’s a cycling path, I can ride. Not a problem for me, not a problem for one trip,” he told his viewers. 

It may not be the same case for delivery riders who are not as physically able as him, the vlogger pointed out. For those who are, he remarked, jobs outside of being a delivery rider may not come easy due to their limited educational levels. 

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The vlogger opined that e-scooter riders should have been allowed to use roads in the first place to avoid accidents with pedestrians. In the caption accompanying the video, he understood that the new law would help deter "young punks" from riding e-scooters, but food delivery riders would remain affected by it.

It's also important to note that delivering GrabFood by foot is only allowed downtown, according to the Grab portal. Delivery personnel who'd like to switch to a different mode of transportation have to get approval from Grab before they could continue operating.

This article has been edited for clarity.

ilyas@asiaone.com