FACILITATING GROUP BUYS
A Alliance for Action (AfA), a group of people who are interested in facilitating group buys in HDB estates will also be formed. Group buys are a way for residents to come together and place large orders to save on shipping costs and get discounts from suppliers. AfAs are industry-led alliances that work in partnership with government.
Ms Sim stated that while these activities are beneficial to small businesses and encourage interaction between residents, they can also cause problems like clogged common corridors and blocked walkways.
She said, “We want to find win-win options so that residents can continue in group buying and support small business while minimising inconvenience for others.”
To find better ways of facilitating the delivery, storage and distribution group buy items, group buyers hosts, grassroots leaders, as well as potential solution providers from within the private sector, will be invited by the AfA By HDB and Peoples Association.
ENHANCEMENTS TO ONESERVICE.APP
MSO shared updates on OneService, which allows users submit feedback and access other municipal service, and said that its user base had increased tenfold in the ten years since it was launched. It is used by more 430,000 people.
New enhancements were made, including a feature that allows residents of the area to view crowd levels at public libraries.
The app has been updated to allow residents to book, pay and apply for town council facilities such as void decks directly through it. Residents used to have to apply in person at the town councils offices.
For example, a resident can request the booking of the void deck for his wake.
This will allow the applicant to not have to produce supporting documents at (town councils) offices when booking facilities.
Residents will be able to submit feedback via the LifeSG App, which is available from the second half this year. LifeSG will soon offer additional OneService eservices such as booking facilities.
The OneService app introduced a Help Neighbour function last year that allows users to alert social services agencies to people in need, including rough sleepers and cardboard collectors.
At the end of January, 272 users had referred such cases to the agencies. MSO stated that approximately half of these cases were new cases that were not on the radars yet.
