Vehicle ownership restraints and car sharing in Singapore

Abstract

In land-scarce Singapore, cars are largely unaffordable due to the imposition of restraints such as high taxes and vehicle quotas. The car-sharing concept was introduced to satisfy citizens' aspiration to use a car. The paper discusses the operational aspects of the car-sharing co-operative and analyses findings from surveys of 45 members and 76 non-members of the co-operative. The profile of members revealed a mean household size of 4.1, 73% of married status 49% from middle-income households and 62% having never owned a car before. Members still mainly used public transport for travelling to work after attaining membership but turned more often to the co-operative car rather than public transport for marginal uses such as leisure and social trips.