Friday, November 27, 2015

Do not look at Uber as a problem, it is the solution



The MRT train keeps breaking down at regular intervals. There is nothing that can be done, as the system is clearly over loaded.

The solution is to bring commuters to other forms of transport. How can this be achieved? The roads are already congested. It will be difficult to add more buses, and it will also be costly.

There is a solution. Guess what it is. It requires the LTA and the government to "think out of the box". Sorry, this solution is not found in the SOP.

THE SOLUTION
We need to make better use of our private cars to provide transport. Most cars now has only a driver. We should encourage car pooling. there is non-clarity now on whether car pooling is or is not allowed (e.g. there is payment of a fee) and if insurance is affected. The LTA must provide the regulation to give clarity.

We should also encourage the use of booking of private cars for transport, i.e. the Uber or Grabcar platform. We should increase the supply of this service to bring down the cost. Many owners of old cars will be willing to provide this service to earn an extra income.

The use of Uber will impact the taxi service. But, the taxi drivers can become Uber drivers, so their livelihood is not affected. The taxi companies will make less profit but they already made sufficient profit it the past.

We need to make better use of our existing roads and vehicles to expand the supply of public transport service.

In short, instead of looking at Uber as a problem, the LTA should look at Uber as the solution!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Some taxi starting fare is $5 vs a low of $3.20. Our taxi service is expensive. They should allow competition to bring down transport cost

Anonymous said...

Uber and grab taxi are much welcome by those who do not own cars. Nationally they improve the use of existing car resources. If LTA sees these innovative solutions as problems we have a problem with the government.

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