Owning a car in Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive countries, has always been something of a luxury. But costs have now soared to an all time high.
Honestly, as much as I wanted a car as a 20-something, I do think this is for the better. There needs to be some adjustments as a lot of the buyers are commercial entities trying to corner a somewhat unsustainable ridehailing market, but overall I’m happy with the tradeoff, especially with the improvement in public transport in recent years.
I’ve only visited once and that was several years ago, I’m surprised to hear the public transit has actually gotten better. I’m from Chicago, which is one of the few US cities with a functional metro, and it’s blown out of the water by the mrt just on comfort alone
Chicago Transit is awesome if you’re traveling toward/from downtown but god does it suck if you’re traveling across the north or west side. Chicago needs a east and south train from the metro station in Jefferson Park or something
There was a period in the 2000s when the metro was under maintained and profits were maximised (fuck you Saw Phiak Hwa), where there were times even at 10pm I couldn’t get on the train because they were so packed, thanks to horrible intervals between each train. Said undermaintence lead to some pretty bad breakdowns (for Singapore anyway) around the mid-2010s . Ever since then they’ve increased maintenence, decreased interval times during both peak and off-peak periods, and more lines were also added, though some of them were already being planned in mid-2000s.
The bus system has also improved when they moved to a hybrid model, where government tenders for operators to operate the bus routes, so there’s private and public aspects into it.
While not perfect, it’s definitely better than the mid-to-late 2000s, and I’m really grateful we have it.
Still the same for me, and they’ve added some routes that improved the reach and accessibility. Trains are the same as always, and they’re way better than they were in the 2000s.
Yea cars make so little sense there that I’m glad to see they treat it like first class on the airlines: it costs such an exorbitant amount that it’s basically just there to subsidize everyone else.
I did a quick Google 95% of households have a car in America. That’s “almost all” but a lot of those households presumably have one car but multiple drivers, the fractions is not easy to determine. So I can’t decide if your claim is true or not.
I agree with you that the person you were responding to is not at all in touch with reality though.
Worth also mentioning that car ownership is pretty much mandatory except in a few cities in the United States because of decades of car-centric infrastructure development and neglect of public transportation. Meanwhile, the average annual cost to own and operate a car in the US is around $10,728 in 2022, which is a heavy financial burden for many when the median household income is around $70,000.
Sounds like a lot of young men in Singapore (I kinda used to be like that, so I know that feeling). Once they travel a bit and learn more about the world I hope the entitlement will wear off somewhat.
good tbh, their metro kicks too much ass to have everyone driving around, their system has it’s problems but not driving isn’t one of them
Honestly, as much as I wanted a car as a 20-something, I do think this is for the better. There needs to be some adjustments as a lot of the buyers are commercial entities trying to corner a somewhat unsustainable ridehailing market, but overall I’m happy with the tradeoff, especially with the improvement in public transport in recent years.
I’ve only visited once and that was several years ago, I’m surprised to hear the public transit has actually gotten better. I’m from Chicago, which is one of the few US cities with a functional metro, and it’s blown out of the water by the mrt just on comfort alone
Chicago Transit is awesome if you’re traveling toward/from downtown but god does it suck if you’re traveling across the north or west side. Chicago needs a east and south train from the metro station in Jefferson Park or something
This. Chicago needs a loop line - or given the coastal nature of the place, a crescent line - several kilometers out of downtown.
There was a period in the 2000s when the metro was under maintained and profits were maximised (fuck you Saw Phiak Hwa), where there were times even at 10pm I couldn’t get on the train because they were so packed, thanks to horrible intervals between each train. Said undermaintence lead to some pretty bad breakdowns (for Singapore anyway) around the mid-2010s . Ever since then they’ve increased maintenence, decreased interval times during both peak and off-peak periods, and more lines were also added, though some of them were already being planned in mid-2000s.
The bus system has also improved when they moved to a hybrid model, where government tenders for operators to operate the bus routes, so there’s private and public aspects into it.
While not perfect, it’s definitely better than the mid-to-late 2000s, and I’m really grateful we have it.
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…which is why Japan needs to have female-only wagons. Generalizations like yours are utterly useless.
I owned my first car at 17 and oh… the hours I spent waxing it. Unwinding car culture in the US would take a long, long time.
Yea, it would, starting with alternate transport infrastructure, which is also not aided by city design. So yea, there is a ton of work.
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Still the same for me, and they’ve added some routes that improved the reach and accessibility. Trains are the same as always, and they’re way better than they were in the 2000s.
Yea cars make so little sense there that I’m glad to see they treat it like first class on the airlines: it costs such an exorbitant amount that it’s basically just there to subsidize everyone else.
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not even almost everyone in the US can afford it, no chance buddy
I did a quick Google 95% of households have a car in America. That’s “almost all” but a lot of those households presumably have one car but multiple drivers, the fractions is not easy to determine. So I can’t decide if your claim is true or not.
I agree with you that the person you were responding to is not at all in touch with reality though.
Worth also mentioning that car ownership is pretty much mandatory except in a few cities in the United States because of decades of car-centric infrastructure development and neglect of public transportation. Meanwhile, the average annual cost to own and operate a car in the US is around $10,728 in 2022, which is a heavy financial burden for many when the median household income is around $70,000.
Oh sweet Jesus you’re being serious aren’t you?
Sounds like a lot of young men in Singapore (I kinda used to be like that, so I know that feeling). Once they travel a bit and learn more about the world I hope the entitlement will wear off somewhat.
You do know how small we are right? Even with COE and ERP we still get traffic jams, and they can be quite bad during peak period.