Car sharing operators face obstacles in their journey
17 Mar 2014|6,745 views
The Straits Times reported that car sharing operators' three biggest bugbears were a need for parking spaces, unauthorised use of their designated lots and a lack of awareness about what they do.
This explains why Car Sharing Association of Singapore president Lai Meng felt encouraged after the Government announced last week that it will make available more parking lots in HDB estates for shared cars.
While high demand has made it very difficult for providers to secure spots near new public transport links in recent years, Mr. Lai said it is critical to provide shared cars near hubs like MRT stations as people who live nearby are less likely to own a vehicle. The association has found that car sharing locations near public transport hubs have the highest rate of use.
Mr. Lai, also the managing director of car sharing firm Car Club, said another challenge to tackle is unauthorised parking in shared car lots. "If the next user coming to get the car cannot find it at the usual place, it compromises efficiency," he said.
He also added that there is also low awareness of car sharing - a membership service allowing people to share a fleet of different cars, with 'pay-as-you drive' rates. Mr. Lai said it would help if there were signs alerting residents to shared cars at street level and designated parking lots at lower levels to improve visibility.
A shared car is used an average of three to four times on a weekend and two to three times on weekdays. There are four providers in Singapore - Car Club, WhizzCar and electric car sharing outfit Smove are conventional operators, while iCarsClub offers peer-to-peer car sharing, allowing members to rent out their private cars.
Together they have over 100 locations, around 300 cars and 9,000 members - up from about 4,800 in 2010. Mr. Lai is hoping to grow the number of shared car locations to between 300 and 400.
The Straits Times reported that car sharing operators' three biggest bugbears were a need for parking spaces, unauthorised use of their designated lots and a lack of awareness about what they do.
This explains why Car Sharing Association of Singapore president Lai Meng felt encouraged after the Government announced last week that it will make available more parking lots in HDB estates for shared cars.
While high demand has made it very difficult for providers to secure spots near new public transport links in recent years, Mr. Lai said it is critical to provide shared cars near hubs like MRT stations as people who live nearby are less likely to own a vehicle. The association has found that car sharing locations near public transport hubs have the highest rate of use.
Mr. Lai, also the managing director of car sharing firm Car Club, said another challenge to tackle is unauthorised parking in shared car lots. "If the next user coming to get the car cannot find it at the usual place, it compromises efficiency," he said.
He also added that there is also low awareness of car sharing - a membership service allowing people to share a fleet of different cars, with 'pay-as-you drive' rates. Mr. Lai said it would help if there were signs alerting residents to shared cars at street level and designated parking lots at lower levels to improve visibility.
A shared car is used an average of three to four times on a weekend and two to three times on weekdays. There are four providers in Singapore - Car Club, WhizzCar and electric car sharing outfit Smove are conventional operators, while iCarsClub offers peer-to-peer car sharing, allowing members to rent out their private cars.
Together they have over 100 locations, around 300 cars and 9,000 members - up from about 4,800 in 2010. Mr. Lai is hoping to grow the number of shared car locations to between 300 and 400.
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