Launch government-backed carpooling website

Of late, public transport issues have dominated the headlines and many Singaporeans have weighed on this topic in the newspapers.

One suggestion that has come up repeatedly as a transport option is carpooling. However, while it would seem that many are open to the idea of sharing a car with strangers to save on fuel costs, I have not been successful in my quest to do so.

When I moved to Singapore last year, I happily settled into living in the east — until I became employed in a job based in the west.

I now spend about an hour commuting in the mornings, and about 1 hour and 45 minutes in the evenings, which eats into the time spent with my husband and on other things.

I have signed up with four carpooling websites and have even resorted to leaving flyers tucked under the windshield wipers of the cars parked in my building’s car park.

But in both instances, I have had no response from anyone.

I believe this may be due to risk aversion and distrust. With scams being something one frequently reads about, everyone is wary of strangers, and maybe rightly so.

One solution to overcoming this wariness and possibly meeting the demand could be to have a government-backed carpooling website. And cab-pooling should be encouraged, too.