• I get it though, you really don’t need a car to get to maybe 95% of the country. I wonder if people who need to haul stuff around for a living get any incentives.

    • Not a resident but my partner is from SG. One of the reasons I often hear is that families(mom, dad, kids, grandparents) like to travel together, and the elderly are not always mobile enough for public transport. Public transport is really fantastic, but it doesn’t cover every single need.
      And of course it’s a status symbol, some feel the need to show they’ve got the wealth to own a car.
      Again, I hear these things second hand and am colored by my partner’s beliefs :) Maybe a SG resident has a better (or different) explanation.
      edit:
      In my eagerness to share, I realize this doesn’t really answer your question. Sorry about that :)

      • My mother was born in Singapore and we’ve been to visit many times. There are a lot of taxis, and they are quite cheap. As a tourist it was cheaper to take a taxi than public transit when we were a group of 3 or 4 people. 2 people was pretty close either way. I’m sure public transit is cheaper when you’re a full time resident, but my grandparents just use taxis all the time due to their mobility issues.

      •  edric   ( @scytale@lemm.ee ) 
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        71 year ago

        Nah you’re good. I was actually thinking of a similar scenario, like for musicians who need to lug their gear around. They don’t exactly fit into the category of a business that transports goods, but they can’t exactly walk, ride a bus, then a train, with all that gear in tow. I’ve been to SG several times myself and I love how easy it is to get around, as someone who prefers urban living.