Joint effort under way to ease common delivery woes at S’pore malls, condos and offices

SINGAPORE - Whenever foodpanda rider Keith Ong has to deliver food to condominiums here during a downpour, both he and the food are likely to get drenched.

Many condos here require delivery riders who use electric bicycles to leave their two-wheelers outside and walk in, often without much shelter along the way, said the 57-year-old.

Mr Ng Gan Poh, 33, who has been delivering food for eight years, said going to Orchard Road or the Central Business District means paying high parking fees as some malls do not have grace periods for deliverymen.

As the e-commerce sector grows, these are among the issues that a tripartite workgroup led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) is working to resolve.

The pain points were identified in three recent surveys that polled more than 2,000 delivery workers in total, covering their experiences at 416 condominiums, 153 malls and 112 office developments across the island.

The surveys were conducted between December 2023 and May 2024 by the workgroup formed last November to look at how last-mile deliveries here can be safer and more efficient.

Armed with insights from the poll, the workgroup, comprising representatives from the labour movement, industry associations and government agencies, is now conducting a series of engagement exercises to find potential solutions that will eventually be showcased at an exhibition at the end of the year to encourage greater adoption.

The possible solutions being explored include converting existing spaces into waiting areas for delivery riders, extending parking grace periods, and installing common lockers to consolidate parcel collection, URA and LTA said in a statement.

Separately, URA and the Housing Board are looking to scale up a trial that was conducted in 2021, where logistics companies were allowed to use designated spaces in HDB carparks to unload and sort parcels for door-to-door delivery.

In a presentation to kick off a focus group discussion on June 26 organised by the tripartite workgroup, URA group director for research and development Chiu Wen Tung said the three-month “courier hub” trial yielded a fourfold increase in productivity for participating logistics firms Ninja Van and Shopee Express.

“We are working with HDB to launch a full-scale courier hub very soon,” he added, without giving more details.

More than 60 people participated in the focus group discussion held at the URA Centre, including delivery workers and representatives from malls, office buildings, security firms, and condominium managing bodies known as management corporation strata titles (MCSTs).

Also in attendance were National Development Minister Desmond Lee, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat and National Trades Union Congress secretary-general Ng Chee Meng.

Mr Chee later said that some of the ideas raised on June 26 can be implemented in the near term, without giving specifics.

Other ideas like the creation of more temporary parking spaces may need more time as they require changes to rules and infrastructure, he added.

He said the Government is open to providing financial support for some of the good ideas.

“We want to be able to pull together the different stakeholders so that for every location, we can look for solutions and make things happen,” Mr Chee said, adding that there are plans to hold “walk-the-ground” sessions.

In his opening remarks at the discussion, Mr Lee said e-commerce is on the rise here, with the proportion of retail sales made online more than doubling in the past five years and the proportion of food and beverage sales made online almost tripling in the same period.

As the sector grows, Mr Lee said, there are issues that need to be resolved so it can be more efficient and the experience of those who make the last-mile e-commerce deliveries happen can be smoother.

He cited some examples of the current “friction points”, including poor signage at some properties that makes it hard for delivery workers to find their way around.

At the same time, a lack of designated parking or waiting areas puts pressure on some delivery workers to park in a way that causes problems for the public and other road users, he noted.

While there have been previous efforts to tackle this – like a circular URA and LTA issued in 2022 advising malls here to set aside waiting bays for delivery riders – Mr Lee said there may be site-specific challenges that building owners face or difficulties that riders still encounter.

“These are the last-mile issues that may seem very micro if you are thinking from a macro policy perspective. But actually these are the most important gaps to fill,” he added.

Mr Kew Yuan Chun, head of sustainability and safety at Frasers Property Singapore, said the discussion on June 26 allowed him to better explain the constraints faced by mall owners and also to better understand the concerns of delivery workers.

For instance, Frasers Property Singapore, which manages 12 shopping malls here, including Northpoint City in Yishun and White Sands in Pasir Ris, has a 30-minute parking grace period for motorcycles at most of its malls, which Mr Kew said is longer than what most other properties here offer.

Yet some delivery riders have asked if this can be extended further, as they need to collect multiple orders during peak hours and may have to wait for more than 30 minutes for the food to be prepared.

“For this, we have to take it back and discuss it with management,” Mr Kew added.

Ms Heng Li Koon, secretary of the MCST Association, said MCSTs here are prepared to make provisions for feasible solutions, noting that it takes some effort for them to carry out changes like allocating parking spaces specifically for delivery vehicles, as it may require consensus among all the strata owners.

At the 710-unit Lake Grande condominium in Jurong West, the MCST was able to designate spaces for delivery motorcycles at the basement carpark. These spaces have been marked out with green paint and green lighting so they are clear to everyone.

Mr Delane Lim, who chairs the condo’s MCST, said: “It’s really about building a culture and understanding the pain points of the riders... When setting certain policies, I think it’s important that MCSTs don’t just think about their residents, but of solutions where courier companies and delivery riders can also co-exist.”