Informal carpooling unsafe, campaign to raise awareness to be rolled out: Amy Khor

SINGAPORE – A campaign to raise awareness of the allowed forms of carpooling – which do not include arrangements made on online chat groups – will be rolled out, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor said in Parliament on March 6. 

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will work on the campaign with the taxi and private-hire vehicle driver associations, Dr Khor added in response to Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC).

Ms Yeo had asked whether the Ministry of Transport plans to raise public awareness of the allowed forms of carpooling.

Dr Khor added: “It is good to intensify our public education efforts, to raise awareness among the public that their safety is not protected if they actually go through these informal channels.”

In Singapore, carpooling is allowed only through licensed business platforms such as GrabHitch, as well as other licence-exempt business platforms that have fleets of fewer than 800 vehicles.

People should not seek rides through informal channels, such as Telegram, Dr Khor said.

Unlike illegal carpooling services, licensed platforms can protect passengers’ safety and offer them some safeguards, she added.

These platforms have the driver’s details and can check on the validity of the driving licence. They also make sure the drivers do not make more than two carpooling trips per day, which is the rule, said Dr Khor.

In February, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda warned commuters against using informal carpooling services – such as those on Telegram – after the death of a passenger in a road accident in 2023.

Mr Michael Ong Wee Siong, 21, died when the van he was in collided with a lorry on the PIE on Dec 21, 2023.

The van driver, then 18, did not have a Class 3 driving licence or a provisional driving licence. The teenager had been offering to ferry passengers to their destinations on a Telegram group chat.

Dr Khor also responded to Ms Yeo’s questions on how the Transport Ministry plans to address illegal carpooling, and whether it would consider banning the practice altogether.

Ms Yeo, who is also the adviser to the National Private Hire Vehicles Association, told Parliament that the illegal practice of carpooling arrangements set up via online chat groups remains an issue.

Besides safety concerns for passengers, the practice also affects the “professional reputation of licensed point-to-point drivers”, she said.

A quick search for “SG Hitch” on Telegram found at least five active chat groups that connect drivers and passengers, Ms Yeo said, adding that the largest group she found had more than 49,000 members, while the smallest had 3,000.

She noted that serious safety issues can come with the use of such unlicensed services, from outrage of modesty to death, as in the case of the driver who did not have a Class 3 licence.

In response, Dr Khor said banning carpooling services may not solve the problem.

“In fact, it may exacerbate the problem. If you look at the informal channels... there is demand. So when there’s demand, there is supply,” she said.

She added that there is some value in allowing the use of carpooling services, because they “optimise vehicle road capacity, the use of the vehicle”, and reduce carbon footprint.

If found guilty of providing illegal carpooling matching services, an individual can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $10,000, or both.

Those convicted of providing illegal carpooling services without a vocational licence, or using an unlicensed vehicle, may be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $3,000, or both.

Members of the public who come across individuals providing illegal carpooling services may write to LTA or notify LTA through the agency’s OneMotoring portal, Dr Khor said.

In 2019, a man used carpooling chat groups on Telegram to dupe women into believing that he would drive them to their destinations. Instead, he drove them to secluded places and molested them.

He was sentenced to five years and 10 months’ jail and given six strokes of the cane for molestation.