News

Orchard Road Smoking Ban To Begin For Real from 1 Apr 2019

2019-03-31 , 10:00 am

Here’s a reminder to all smokers out there: if you’re caught smoking at non-designated smoking areas at Orchard Road from next Monday onwards, good luck to you.

Because you’re not going to be let off with a verbal warning.

You’ll be hit where it hurts the most: your wallet.

Here’s a Brief Flashback

From 1 Jan 2019, smoking at Orchard Road (except at designated areas) is banned by law.

Below’s a visual representation of the area:

Yup, it’s big.

But thankfully (for smokers), the government’s given them a probation period to get used to the new law.

They gave a 3-month stay of execution.

NEA officers were deployed on the ground to catch errant smokers, but instead of punishing them one-time-good-one immediately, they’re let off with a warning.

No More Probation Period

After 31 Mar 2019, any errant smoker caught smoking at non-designated areas will be facing either composition fines of $200, or up to $1,000 court fines.

In other words, it ain’t worth it to save on a five-minute walk.

No Excuses

Don’t bother trying to argue your way out of trouble.

Besides the three-month adjustment period that NEA gave to Singaporeans, business owners are also advised to put up no-smoking signs, replace dustbins with those without ashtrays and brief their employees and customers.

Plus, with more than 30 NEA officers on the ground for the past few months and catching errant smokers, saying “I don’t know about this new law” is going to be pretty unbelievable.

And remember, holding a lit cigarette (but not smoking it) at prohibited areas is against the law as well because it emits smoke.

So Memorise These Places

Or just save this article on your Goody Feed app, whichever way works better for you.

Here is the list of Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) where you can smoke at Orchard Road.

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.

So now that you know what’s going on, remember to share this with your friends or they might just end up contributing to our NDP fireworks this year. #JustSaying

Do People Follow Laws?

Yesterday, one of my colleagues was at Orchard Road and it turns out that everyone followed the law religiously; no one was anyhowly smoking anywhere.

However, some people smoked just outside the yellow box, as the box was extremely packed. Not sure if it’s still against the law to smoke on the edge of the box, but if NEA officers were as gungho as a RSM in an army camp, then we might get another bonus in next year’s Budget #justsaying