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  Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 06
Motorists turn to car-sharing as an alternative to driving
 By Dominique Loh

SINGAPORE: With Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices now back on an uptrend, many people may reconsider getting a car.

A growing number of Singaporeans are giving up their cars altogether, opting to car-share instead. 59-year-old retiree Thong Chee Hong and his wife do not travel as much as they used to.

So, a day after scrapping his car in August, they joined Honda's Diracc car sharing scheme. The couple says they like the convenience of having a car whenever they need it, without having to deal with cost factors such as road tax, petrol, car maintenance and repair bills.

"I would generally spend S$500 to S$600 on average per month in owning a car. However, when I came on this programme, I'm now spending on average only about S$200 a month, taking into consideration six to eight times of driving per month," Mr Thong says.

Users of this system can receive and return the cars at 16 ports, the majority of which are located within the Central Business District. But as the fleet grows, the plan is to have more of these ports at residential areas.

Mr Thong says he is also swayed by the use of Honda's environment friendly hybrid cars which run on an electric motor and a petrol engine.

Hisao Kobayashi, Managing Director, Honda ICVS, says: "Whenever the number of vehicles gets more, there are congestion problems and noise problems. We would like to provide other alternatives to our so-called users. If you use the car a little bit less, why don't you use car sharing? This car- sharing scheme is complementing mass transportation like MRT, buses or taxis."

Diracc, which has about 1800 members with a fleet of 72 cars, is one of four companies in Singapore offering car-sharing schemes. The others are City Speed from Comfort Delgro, NTUC Income and Whizz Car. - CNA/so
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