SINGAPORE: For 55-year-old postal worker Mdm Kua, delivering mail at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) estate in Admiralty Drive often starts with heavy lifting before she can even reach the letterbox.
Almost every day, bicycles and personal mobility devices are left directly in front of letterboxes, forcing her to physically move them aside in order to carry out her job.
The SingPost worker of 15 years said: “When the bicycles are parked at the letterbox, I cannot work… so I have to carry (them away). It’s a difficulty for me.
“There’s no way for me to do my job. I have to open the (letterbox) door.”
Elsewhere, a 69-year-old Sembawang resident told CNA about the daily obstacle course she faces in order to get home. Mrs Tan, who wanted to be known only by her surname, said bicycles parked near the entrance of the block she walks through to get to her estate sometimes leave barely enough room for people to pass.
“(It’s) horrible. Sometimes, there’s maybe only a metre for you to pass through,” she said.
Their frustrations reflect a perennial issue of indiscriminate bicycle parking across Singapore’s heartlands and transport hubs, even as the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has stepped up efforts to tackle the problem.
In response to CNA’s queries, a spokesperson on Saturday (Nov 14) said LTA has been “stepping up efforts to address indiscriminate bicycle parking and remove derelict bicycles”, particularly at high-traffic locations such as MRT stations and other key transport nodes, to keep public passageways clear and free up parking spaces for other cyclists.
Bicycles obstructing public passageways may be relocated to designated parking areas or impounded and subsequently disposed of if unclaimed.
LTA said it removed 186 bicycles from bicycle parking areas at key transport nodes and other locations in the first half of 2026, followed by another 303 between July and October.
A bicycle may be considered derelict if it has been abandoned or left in a state of disrepair. This means the bicycle is heavily rusted, missing key components like wheels or a saddle, or left unused at the same location for an extended period.