Singapore Motorcycle Riders: How to Start?

These are all the things you need to know as a motorcycle owner in Singapore:

First, you will need to acquire a 2B driving license

1. 1. If you are a foreigner and have a valid motorbike license (with an official English translation), you can ride up to 12 months without a converted Signapore driving license. To get a local license, you will need to pass a Basic Theory Test ($12) at a driving centre and then convert it to a local license ($50).
   2. If you are a local, LTA mandates that you have to take the driving courses which sets you back $1,000-$3,000.

Buying a motorbike

1. 1. Find a bike that you want to get: If you are planning do join the gig economy by doing food delivery, your top priority would be fuel saving and reliability. 2B bikes like Honda Wave, Yamaha X1R, Spark, Nouvo would mostly fit your bill.
   2. Buy insurance for the bike: Normal personal insurance in Singapore only covers 1 person per bike. The insurance premium depends on several factors like engine size and your age. If you are under 20 years old, expect to pay more than $1,200 for your insurance. At Aloride, we paid for a premium commercial insurance which cover any rider with extended coverage to food delivery.
   3. Come to LTA at 10 Sin Ming Rd. to do the transfer of ownership with the seller. You can skip this step if you buy from a bike shop.
   4. You will need to buy a cashcard from a 7-Eleven store and insert it into your IU. In Singapore, we use Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gates to automatically collect payment whenever a rider passing through. IU (In-vehicle Unit) is a device that is attached to your vehicle to transmit payment data to the ERP gate to deduct the balance from your cashcard.
   5. If you have less than 12 months riding experience, LTA requires you to get a P Plate (Probation). It’s a yellow/red plastic plate to stick on your vehicle. You can get this plate at any motorbike shop or from AloRide.

Responsibilities that comes with the bike

1. 1. Every 3,000km (or 1,000km for old vehicles), you will need to do servicing for the bike for changing oil and if applicable: coolant, spark plug, air filter, …
   2. You will need to bring the bike to inspection every year in order to renew road tax, either at STA or VICOM centres in Singapore. It is an offence in Singapore to use a vehicle without roadtax, and LTA require a passing vehicle inspection before letting you renew it for 1 year. The inspection can be tricky if you have an aftermarket exhaust. They will require a certificate for that exhaust or you will have to change back to the stock pipe ($100-$200).
   3. The IU unit is quite troublesome. Sometimes ERP gates cannot debit the amount from your cashcard for some random reasons. LTA will send a letter to your home and require you to bring your bike with that letter to STA/Vicom IU inspection centres to repair it, and if you are late they will fine you at least $100. Please note that this is different to normal vehicle inspection.
   4. If you use a illegal modified exhaust, LTA will send you a letter to fine $700, plus you will later need to bring it with your motorcycle to a STA/Vicom inspection centres to ensure that the issue is resolved. Please note that this is different to normal vehicle inspection.
   5. Bike breakdowns: This will be a nightmare and may costs you a lot. You will need to tow your bike to a bike shop and wait up to a month if its engine is damaged.

Other stuffs

1. 1. If you got a parking ticket, LTA will send you a letter to the vehicle owner asking to either paying the fine or furnish the offender details to LTA.
   2. If you got into an accident: 1. Get police report on the accident 2. Contact insurance claim agent to claim back the repair amount. This is also another nightmare for you since you will not be able to use the bike for 1-2 months during the claim process.
   3. If you forget to insert the cashcard before going through ERP gate, or the cashcard balance cannot cover the ERP fee, a fine of about $10 will be sent to you. Remember to top-up your cashcard at 7-Eleven or at the automated NETS machines around parking lots.
   4. Every vehicle in Singapore comes with a CoE expiration date. CoE (Certificate of Entitlement) is a grant from the government to let you use the vehicle for 10 years. When CoE expires, you will have to either scrap the bike, or pay to extend it. The current CoE value for motorcycle is now over $5,500.