For close to a year now, Bulgarian Zhivko Girginov and a group of volunteers from Volunteer Bike Patrol, have been travelling round Singapore collecting abandoned bike-sharing bicycles and relocating them to useful places.

It's a sacrifice of their time and resources as they help to remove the unsightly bicycles and rearranging/relocating them for the good of Singaporeans.

Without them, pathways would be choked with rental bicycles placed in a haphazard manner:

They also help consolidate bicycles in yellow boxes to make it convenient for users to find them:

Unappreciative keyboard warriors

So it can be a little discouraging when despite the obvious service to the community, the Volunteer Bike Patrol still has to face unappreciative Singaporeans who admonish them for the work they are doing:

Also facing hurdles from authorities

Because of its nature as a park, East Coast Park sees many bike-sharing bicycles strewn all over the area. Therefore, it is one the places Volunteer Bike Patrol goes to help tidy up. Unfortunately, they had a little run in with an officer from NParks. This was Girginov's account of things:

On 2 May around 4pm+ at East Coast Park, while unloading the collected indiscriminately-parked bikes at one of the very few yellow boxes at ECP (located at the bus stop at ECP Service Road near the water-ski lagoon), a NParks female officer on electric buggy approached me, took photos of me and the lorry, and sharply instructed me to leave since the lorry seemed to had been “parked” (nevertheless just temporary) on the “East Coast Park territory”. As a matter of fact - just few centimeters in the actual territory (see one of the photos in this post). I introduced myself (was wearing the t-shirt with “Volunteer Bike Patrol” logo) and tried to explain to the lady what and why was I doing, however she didn’t show interest to listen. Of course I obeyed her instructions and left with the lorry immediately. One general rule is to always first obey the instructions given by enforcement officers, and only later to object, appeal or seek assistance on a higher instance.

Many questions raise up though. I have to specify that few months ago, by email, I sought for a permit from NParks to operate the lorry at ECP under NParks’ conditions. They kindly rejected my request, stating that only contractors can operate vehicles there. When I liaised to one of the BSOs’ contractors, I happened to know that they were also rejected by NParks.

On this issue, I approached and enquired the Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC Mr. Melvin Yong, by email, and do hope that He would revert back to me.

Here's a photograph of where his vehicle was photographed at:

Yes, he may not have a permit and there may be very good reasons why the NParks officer needed him to leave. But perhaps the officer could have taken the time to understand what Girginov was doing and also advise him on how to get the proper permits.

After all, he was trying to make the park a safer and tidier place for the rest of us.

Here's his full post:

Thankfully, the efforts of the volunteers have not gone unnoticed and they were given certificate of recognition from the Singapore Kindness Movement:[related_story]