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Traffic is more or less a problem for all major cities around the globe, and an abundance of cars on the streets usually brings other problems with it as well, such as air and noise pollution.
Singapore is an Asian sovereign city-state with an area smaller than New York City's and 5.6 million people living within its borders. Since it's doing extremely financially, a lot of the 5.6 million will want and afford to drive their own personal cars, something that could swiftly send the entire city into gridlock.
Unlike other cities around the world, Singapore can't afford to expand since it sits on an island, so building more roads is not an option. Besides, the infrastructure is already taking up 12 percent of the very valuable limited available land.
The government has already taken drastic measures to keep the number of cars in check. Car prices are notoriously high in Singapore, costing several times more than in other parts of the world. Even so, bumping up the price wasn't enough, so a new system was put in place.
Anyone interested in spending a ridiculous amount of money on a car in Singapore needs to obtain a certificate of entitlement issued by the government first. Their number is limited and is set each year by the authorities according to the scheduled growth. For this year, it was 0.25 percent. For next year, it's just zero.
"In view of Singapore’s land constraints and our commitment to continually improve our public transport system, we will lower the vehicle growth rate from the current 0.25% per annum to 0% with effect from February 2018," read the memo released by the Singapore Land Transport Authority.
Given its sovereign nature and geographical particularities, Singapore represents a special situation that is not very likely to be reproduced anywhere else in the world. But these increasingly harsher measures go to show how difficult it is to curb people's desire to own a vehicle. How does that bode for the industry's newly found love for car sharing, one might wonder?
Unlike other cities around the world, Singapore can't afford to expand since it sits on an island, so building more roads is not an option. Besides, the infrastructure is already taking up 12 percent of the very valuable limited available land.
The government has already taken drastic measures to keep the number of cars in check. Car prices are notoriously high in Singapore, costing several times more than in other parts of the world. Even so, bumping up the price wasn't enough, so a new system was put in place.
Anyone interested in spending a ridiculous amount of money on a car in Singapore needs to obtain a certificate of entitlement issued by the government first. Their number is limited and is set each year by the authorities according to the scheduled growth. For this year, it was 0.25 percent. For next year, it's just zero.
"In view of Singapore’s land constraints and our commitment to continually improve our public transport system, we will lower the vehicle growth rate from the current 0.25% per annum to 0% with effect from February 2018," read the memo released by the Singapore Land Transport Authority.
Given its sovereign nature and geographical particularities, Singapore represents a special situation that is not very likely to be reproduced anywhere else in the world. But these increasingly harsher measures go to show how difficult it is to curb people's desire to own a vehicle. How does that bode for the industry's newly found love for car sharing, one might wonder?
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