Use e-scooters only on pavements, Penang Island City Council warns riders

GEORGE TOWN: The public can use e-scooters on public pavements but are barred from using roads.

In ensuring that the roads are safe for all vehicles and road users, an integrated operation was conducted by Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and the police last night.

MBPP said, in a Facebook post today that the operation was conducted at the Unesco World Heritage site here to monitor e-scooter usage among members of the public.

"Currently, the usage of e-scooters is prohibited on roads and it is an offence under Section 54 of the Road Transport Act 1987.

"Normally, e-scooters are only allowed to be used on pavements or in an area separate from the main roads," the statement read.

The statement added that no licence has been given to any e-scooter operator in the state and the monitoring of the e-scooters was conducted for the sake of public safety.

MBPP enforcement director Azman Sirun said that in the operation that was conducted from 10pm to 3am, a total of 128 e-scooters riders were advised to stay off the road.

"Among the locations that we focused on during the operation were at Lebuh Cannon, Lebuh Pantai, Lebuh Armenian and around the city centre," he said.

He said besides advising the users, business operators offering e-scooter rental services were also told to remind their customers to follow the rules of the land.

"Riding e-scooters on main roads is dangerous and riders could cause accidents," said Penang police traffic and public order chief Supt Zafri Zolkapli, adding that no summonses were issued during the operation.

It was reported that a by-law will be drawn up that will specifically deal with micro-mobility vehicles, including for users and suppliers to be licenced.