[autobahnjpr]

A car or a personal transport gives freedom. It is not a question of necessity or requirement. I lived for a year or so 15 years back and I remember the struggle of carrying the weekly/monthly shopping load back to our apartment through MRTs and buses and what not. Another issue was the time taken to travel from A to B on public transport. One of my Indian colleague had a small baby and I still vividly remember his struggle to go around with pram in buses and taxis and how he would be given nasty looks by other passengers. Taxis are quite expensive and cannot be the daily means of travel. Also, getting one during peak hour was next to impossible.

During those days, I used to see lot of ads for massage chairs and wonder why there is so much demand. Later I realized that because of public transport, people are forced to walk a lot and thus the massager companies are fulfilling the need. Many office goers would immediately massage their tired feets after reaching home. I then verified this from my singapore colleagues.

As a country, they have the right policy otherwise the small island nation will get so choked with vehicles with all roads filled with parked vehicles that daily life would be hell. Plus the image of Singapore and the tourist income will also get severely affected.

[ajitmoses]

I have been living in Singapore since 2010 and I’ve seen a few cycles of cost of living go up and down. Yes rents do go down. I was in for a shock when I had just moved in and found out the cost of cars and the chatter in the expat community always seemed as how it makes no financial sense for most people to buy a car. The cost to own and run a car is very expensive by any standards and this is clearly intentional. In terms of land usage, roads use up 12% of the country’s land and that is very high. So it makes sense for the government to deter people from buying a car. The public transportation is the best in the world. Taxis are very cheap compared to global prices.

The only time it makes sense of having a car is if your monthly taxi usage is going to be over 2k sgd per month and still you might find it hard to justify. Singapore is an advanced society and their aspiration is not to make the poor drive cars. They want the rich to take public transportation.

One of my learnings from all this also is that by not driving for commute, you actually can get an extra 2 hours a day to do anything you want and I take this habit with me when I visit India. I stopped driving for commute. I will take an Uber or hire a driver.

I love cars and still enjoy driving and I get my share of that on the highways, twisties and the track but Singapore has taught many of us that driving for commute is just not fun when you have a more efficient way to travel.

[ajitmoses]

If you watch the blue zone documentary on Netflix, you will realise that Singapore is the only man made blue zone in the world. People live a long life here and one of the main reasons for that is that people walk a lot daily. On days that I took public transport, I will easily walk about 10k steps a day. Considering 99% of the population take public transport, they end up walking a lot daily and that adds to their cardiac health. Humidity is high but the air conditioning is really good and most people have a light jacket on them.

There are times when you wished you had a car like at 1 am but when you are out at 1 am, I am a few drinks down and wont drive anyways so it’s quite hard to justify buying a car for me. I’ve got two kids in the last 4 years and have easily managed with taxi and public transportation. Full disclosure - I rely more on taxis than public transportation and for many taking taxis daily will become expensive. To give context, a one way taxi ride will cost a minimum of 10 times more than a train or bus ride. So most people I know commute to work on public transportation and use taxis over the weekend.

[Sebring]

They're constantly watching. An average Singaporean gets caught on cam at least 70 times a day, they say. An uncle dropped a ciggy butt outside and someone came home to warn him not to. They are so strict

Originally Posted by DCIT_Prabodh

a pickup arrived from the traffic police saying we saw you walking at a non-pedestrian walkway asking, "are you guys lost and can we drop you to the nearest bus station?"

[Foxbat]

Similar situation if you live in Manhattan, New York. You can easily walk, take an Uber/taxi, subway or cycle within Manhattan. If you want to go on a road trip renting a car starts at $40-50 per day.

They don't have insane taxes on cars but with no parking on the road they have something else:

[AirbusCapt]

City states like Singapore can pursue a zero car policy. This will never work in actual countries with a large landmass and larger populations. In India the government can never be able to provide for a complete transport solution which eliminates the need for personal transport, however with increasing metro construction and electric buses, more people may opt to use public transport in the near future.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

This will never work in actual countries with a large landmass and larger populations.

Or with an auto industry that contributes 7% to the GDP, an existing market that's already the 3rd largest in the world, and that's with barely 8% of households owning cars!

But also, with traffic and pollution in cities becoming they way it is, I think our cities will start seeing some push away from private transport in the years to come. Especially if public transport does improve.

[guruji]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

a car is a huge step up in living standards, if you have enjoyed that pleasure you must be kind enough to let those who are coming up in life after you enjoy the same quality of life.

Time to think.

In my case, living in singapore without a car and relying only on public transport sysetm was way better than being stuck in traffic in Bangalore! Living standards is not only about owning a car or driving a car, there are many more elemnents to it and tax money must be spent on improving the quality of life rather than enabling everyone to own a car.

[RM Motorsports]

My cousin had visited his friend who stays in Singapore. His friends's car once broke down in the middle of the road. He was fined $ 5000 by the traffic police. Reason " NOT MAINTAINING THE VEHICLE PROPERLY & CAUSING INCONVENIENCE TO OTHERS"

Thats how it is in Singapore.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by kiku007

It is eye-watering to hear the costs of being an automobile enthusiast in Singapore. Apparently some people get their cars purposely "stolen" i.e. driven to Malaysia and then the cars live in Malaysia for the rest of their lives.

I thought Singapore was tough for car enthusiasts, but Hong Kong makes life hell for car enthusiasts at an unimaginable level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wdSBpakvnI&t=1027s

A passionate plea from an auto enthusiast.
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Larry,
One of the main reasons why Eugene and I invited you to HK and arranged all these meets is not to show off the cars, but to let the world know just how tough it is to drive a JDM out on the road in HK.

It’s utterly ridiculous that even stock JDM get harassed.

The other point is to let the world know just how well behaved the meets are. As you said there’re no burnouts, no revving and no misbehaving.

All we wanna do is to chill, take some photos, share some car culture. And yet, we are treated like criminals when they stop us to check our cars. To be surrounded by more than 10 cops when your car is stock is a very unpleasant experience. I mean, is it really necessary to suppress car culture to this extent ?

Wouldn’t it be better to use the resources and man-power to directly stop illegal street racing ? What’s the point of discouraging people meeting in a parking lot in an orderly fashion without disturbing anyone at all ?

I’m glad that through the meets I’ve arranged this time round, you have first hand experience of what HK JDM / modified car owners go through.

Anyway, thanks for this. I hope the HK Govt / police will see this video in a positive light and stop the suppression, which is obviously way overboard.

P.S. My IG is <Removed> in case anyone is interested in more HK car culture.

P.S.S. We shall not yield.

Rocky Yung
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