Car ownership in Singapore

A recent video produced by “Talking Point” garnered quite a bit of lively discussion among the local community.

This has always been a topic of discussion and a somewhat controversial topic. However, perhaps what might have reopened this discussion is the statistics in the latest report –

On average, these households earn a monthly income of S$3,000, and data from the Singapore Department of Statistics (Singstat) show that 16.3 per cent of them own at least one car.

We all know how freaking expensive cars are expensive in Singapore and for those household income that falls lower than a certain threshold, it is no wonder that this created some snippets for discussion.

The following graphical representation shows a pretty good breakdown of the cost of car ownership in Singapore

Source: gov.sg 

Well, everyone has their own circumstance and financial situation. I guess we can’t say whether each decision is right or wrong as I understand that sometimes the level of convenience of having a car perhaps far outweigh the cost of owning one (although some might argue on the reliability of the public transport system these days….).

I guess for both Dave and I, we could probably still afford a car if we would like to set some money aside for this but having said that, we thought that it probably don’t make sense for us to own a car at this junction.

What about driving to work? – Both Dave and I work in town, and we take a premium bus service to work. Well, one might argue that it makes sense for us to drive to work since our workplace is so near (I know a few friends who do that.) However, navigating the morning traffic, cost of parking in town, plus the ERP, this is going to add up quite substantially. For the premium bus service, we are currently paying around $9 one way for both of us. This is definitely not cheap but we figured that it is still cheaper overall than driving to work. Also, since none of us is driving, we can still take a couple of winks on the bus. If either one of us is driving, it means that we will need to concentrate on the road.

Isn’t it more convenient with a toddler and now a baby in tow? – I do not deny that owning a car is probably more convenient for couples with young children or those with elderly in the family. You have the car boot which can store the stroller and barang barang and whatever other crap that you need for the little ones. However, with Ally, we went around taking a lot of public transport (she loves to take the buses and trains) and also Grab (especially for further locations or when the kid needs to take a nap). And since both of us work on weekdays, weekends are the only time when we travel with kids. Even if we do get a weekend car, the utilisation still doesn’t justify the cost of owning a car.

Also, most importantly, we find that driving in Singapore to be an extremely frustrating experience. Firstly, the jam on the roads, even on weekends is extremely annoying. In addition, parking tends to be a problem as well (I am sure this is something that many will identify with). Thirdly, driving is an activity that requires a lot of concentration. With a toddler and baby now to handle, you can imagine that sucks up quite a bit of attention and energy from us. So when it comes to taking the wheel, we would require cup of coffee to “wake us up” before driving. But if we are taking grab or taxi, we could probably just rest in the passenger seat.

Will we say no to car ownership in Singapore? To be honest, we don’t know. With COE prices increasing as the government aim for a more car-lite Singapore, we are not convinced that we should get one at this point in time or anytime in the near future. Of course if circumstances change, we might reconsider.

But for now, we are happy to be able to get by without one.