About 30 NEA Officers Deployed To Catch Smokers in Orchard Since The Orchard Ban Started Yesterday

If you’re a smoker and you work in the Orchard area, good luck to you.

Because the Orchard ban has kicked in since yesterday.

If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, here’s a quick refresher for you.

Orchard Road To Have Smoking Ban W.E.F 1 Jan 2019

Orchard Road was supposed to go smoke-free on 1 Jul 2018 but business owners and stakeholders requested for more time to prepare for such a huge undertaking.

And so the National Environmental Agency (NEA) decided to be magnanimous & generously extended the waiting time by six months.

When the ban kicks in, smokers will no longer be able to light up while walking along the streets.

Instead, they’ll have to light up at more than 40 designated smoking areas specially set up for them.

I’m pretty sure you appreciate their thoughtfulness.

The designated smoking areas are located at:

• Behind Somerset MRT Station
• Cathay Cineleisure Orchard (2)
• Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall (2)
• Cuppage Terrace
• DFS Galleria
• Far East Plaza
• Far East Shopping Centre
• Forum The Shopping Mall
• Four Seasons Hotel (2)
• Goodwood Park Hotel (3)
• Grand Hyatt Singapore
• Hilton Singapore
• Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road (2)
• Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre (2)
• Ming Arcade
• Ngee Ann City(2)
• Orchard Rendezvous Hotel (2)
• Orchard Towers (2)
• Plaza Singapura
• Shaw House
• Tanglin Place
• Tang Plaza
• Tanglin Mall
• Tanglin Shopping Centre
• The Centrepoint
• The Heeren
• The Paragon
• The Quincy Hotel
• The Regent Singapore (2)
• Wheelock Place
• York Hotel (2)

The brackets indicate that there are two or three smoking points in that area.

Of course, it’s not that you can smoke in these buildings lah (what were you thinking?!). It’s just that the smoking points are near these buildings.

NEA Officers Deployed To Catch Smokers on 1 Jan 2019

Yesterday was the start of 2019.

And true to NEA’s words, they’re bringing out the big guns to enforce the new rules.

About 30 NEA officers will be deployed in the area to catch errant smokers daily. And on the weekends or busier periods, they’ll deploy another 45 to 50 officers and volunteers in the precinct.

These officers, dressed in white No-Smoking Zone polo t-shirts, walked around the area and told smokers to go to the designated smoking areas when they caught them.

The good thing is, if you get caught the first time, you’ll only be given a verbal warning and sent on your way for the first three months.

But if you’re just stubborn and smoked anywhere, you can be fined up to $1,000 even during this probation period.

But come 1 April 2019, the NEA officers won’t “give chance” anymore. So don’t go thinking it’s an April Fool’s joke if you get fined on that day.

The Area of the Smoking Ban

Now, Orchard Road sounds pretty misleading if you think it’s just along that big, main road. Here’s how it looks like on the map.

You’ll realize that it’s not just along Orchard Road, but the minor roads that connect to Orchard Road as well.

Businesses Are Putting Up Signs As Well

Okay, we all know Orchard Road isn’t just for Singaporeans. It’s for tourists as well.

To help inform tourists about the smoke-free area, signage and information cards were put up to inform and direct them to the nearest designated smoking area.

Which means, if you’re in a rush to smoke (you know, the kick comes in), you can always refer to our Goody Feed app, or just look at the signage they’ve put up.

One thing for sure, though, if you’re a smoker and you work in Orchard, I feel you.