GOING CAR-LITE
The move away from owning a car is a reflection of Singapore’s shift towards going car-lite, said analysts.
“We have to realise that Singapore cannot sustain a lot of cars on our small island because of our limited space,” said Associate Professor Raymond Ong of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), adding that the country also needs space for other needs.
He believes that there could be a slight dip in users if car-sharing companies raise prices due to the higher costs of buying a car.
Yet he expects car-sharing behaviour to stay as commuters, particularly younger people, grow more environmentally conscious.
They believe “in a much more sustainable transportation, rather than owning an asset that they will only use on specific times of the day”, Dr Ong said.
“They will rather go for sharing services, whereby it is on a as-need basis.”
For instance, younger people make up the bulk of TribeCar’s users. This year alone, almost 70 per cent of those who signed up with it were aged 18 to 35.
To support Singapore’s car-lite aspirations, public transport, walking and cycling infrastructures are being ramped up to help commuters travel seamlessly, said Dr Ong.
“There is a general trend for younger segments of the population to be less likely to own a car or to be less likely to even have a licence to drive.”
He believes more people will walk and cycle, or use public transport for daily commutes in future, and use car sharing or ride sharing occasionally.
“We may actually see that we have multiple users using one car, and this means that there’s a more efficient use of a vehicle. We may have less vehicles on the road,” said Dr Ong.
“Basically, if there are less cars on the roads and a more efficient use of transport modes, there will be a lower carbon emission from the land transport sector.”