Offer carrots to reduce usage of cars

I read with interest the letter “Improve public transport by making car use prohibitive” (June 22). Rather than increasing usage costs, I would suggest some sort of incentive scheme for minimising car usage.

Singapore’s answer to curbing car usage has long been to simply increase the costs: Certificate of Entitlement, Electronic Road Pricing, et cetera.

If car owners are given incentives instead, such as discounts on road tax or in other forms, it would surely lower the number of vehicles on the roads.

People who do not need to use their cars for work or other reasons would look at such incentives and minimise usage. They may start to carpool and share the incentives among one another.

Increasing usage costs as a blanket method may have an impact on people who need their vehicles for work; for example, those who must drive to many appointments and different venues.

While the rich may not be affected by increasing costs, the middle-income group would be, and their lives would become tougher.

It is time Singapore explores incentives for non-usage. This method may be more effective if the incentives are good enough.