53% say Singapore government should legislate private car sharing apps: survey

JUST over half (53 per cent) of 1,929 Singaporeans polled in a recent YouGov survey agree that the Singapore government should legislate private car sharing platforms such as UberX, UberEXEC and GrabCar.

This comes after Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post on Oct 2 that the Ministry of Transport will review third-party apps such as Uber and GrabTaxi, and where justified, level the playing field between private-hire drivers using these apps and taxi drivers.

"We have seen some very passionate comments from members of the public on this issue," YouGov said in a media statement on Tuesday.

The survey - conducted from Oct 8-11 by the UK-based market research firm - found that 22 per cent of respondents think that the government should not intervene, while 11 per cent of them feel that such apps should be banned.

The survey also found that 33 per cent of app users prefer to use these apps to book a taxi to a private car.

Among the top reasons cited for using third-party apps to book a taxi were that these apps are easy to use, show the availability of drivers in the area, and are faster than other methods.

The top two reasons for not using third-party apps to book a taxi were the uncertainty over how users will be charged for their ride, and concerns over payment security.