Not owning a car in Singapore may be the wisest thing for your wallet. However, there are efficient ways to minimize your financial destruction. Consider the following:
GAIN THE THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR FREE
Theoretical knowledge includes the fundamental aspects of driving such as the road signs and the car parts. Recently, I enrolled myself in a driving school that offered free lectures as a part of the year-end promotion. I was fortunate as some driving schools charge extra for these.
You may avoid the additional costs too! Simply uncover the gems found online. For example, you may download this informative file to widen your understanding on Singapore’s road traffic signs.
You may also purchase a single instructional book and learn by yourself. Doing so will save you money, time, and effort.
CHECK THE CONDITION OF YOUR TIRES
Be honest with yourself. As a newbie driver, you may overlook the state of your tires unless they are completely flat. A tire will enable you to travel as long as it has air. This is why some people fail to realize that their tires are under-inflated. Under-inflated tires can not only cost you more petrol, but also your lives.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
Prevent accidents from happening by checking your tire pressure on a monthly basis.
REMEMBER THE FIRST GEAR
As I examined the available options from the driving school, I committed myself to manual vehicles first. I wanted to absorb the basics in order to have an easier time with the automatic vehicles.
What I like most about manual controls is its ability to control the acceleration. If you place more importance on fuel-efficiency then, this is a route that you shall take. Manual vehicles generally use less fuel depending on the driver’s awareness and proficiency. A driver who constantly skip the first gear tend to burn more fuel with the second gear’s power. So, do not forget to initially shift the control to the first gear.
PLAN YOUR PATH AHEAD OF TIME
In this day and age, it is easy to rely on the convenience of technology. The community-based navigation app called Waze boasts its ability to provide an accurate map that steers away from traffic jams. Almost all of my family members depend on this free app. However, its distinct routes may not necessarily be cost-efficient.
Save money on petrol by searching the shortest route possible. Look at Google Maps and other resources to get a decent estimate of how long each path may take. Plan wisely!
Bank car loans are the most accepted, traditional, and typical route consumers take. Due to their traditional nature, loaning money in the bank requires the completion of fixed procedures that attest your financial stability.
You will be asked to complete a loan application that may include: your name, NRIC, date of birth, address, current and previous employers, length of employment, occupation, sources of income, total monthly income, and information about existing credit accounts. This along with your application shall help the bank decide if you are trustworthy and credible enough to pay the loan. This is why you must have a stable income and good financial history if you are considering this option.
Finance companies, licensed under the Finance Companies Act, are focused on providing saving deposits and credit facilities to individuals and firms.
They typically work with banks, insurance companies, and auto dealers to give the best possible deals to their clients. If you are striving for the cheapest price for a used car, get a loan from a finance company that is also an auto dealer. Such company purchases vehicles from various sellers for resale. Aside from this, finance companies are a great source for refinancing loans.
Licensed money lenders are businesses that are regulated by the country’s law. Unlike the loan sharks that lend with high interest rates, licensed money lenders’ fees are controlled by the parameters of the law, which means you can expect to have a fair deal. Some of the known money lenders in Singapore are Max Credit and CashMax Credit.
It is important to realize that the loans offered by the licensed money lenders are heavily influenced by your annual income. If your annual income is more than S$30,000 but does not exceed $120,000 then you can loan up to 4 times the amount of your monthly income. And if your annual income is at least S$120,000, you can loan as much as you want.
So if your annual income is less than S$20,000, licensed money lenders are the ideal option for smaller loans such as repairing your existing car.
4. SELLER’S CAR LOAN
An unconventional loan option is arranging a deal directly with the seller. You can either pay the seller in installments or pay the seller with a deposit. By paying in installments, you can only get the full ownership of the used car once you have paid the complete amount. By paying the seller with a deposit equal to what he has paid in the bank, the balance will be your responsibility after transferring the ownership to you.
Eager to go on a shopping spree within your budget? Visit IMM! IMM is the largest outlet store in Singapore that boasts with 80 stores offering discounts of up to 80% all year round. Parking here is free for the first two hours and the first entry. Charges for subsequent time are S$0.30/15 minutes and S$1.07/hour. These rates apply from Monday to Sunday including Public Holidays.
Location: 2 Jurong East Street 21, Singapore 609601
2. MUSTAFA CENTRE
Open for 24 hours, Mustafa Centre is heavily popular in the shopping scene. From inexpensive groceries to affordable jewelry. You name it – they have it! In the management’s effort to improve your experience, they are giving away free parking for the first hour daily. Every subsequent 30 minutes or part thereof is charged with S$1.
Be prepared with at least S$2 as you might get drowned with all of Mustafa’s choices!
Location: 145 Syed Alwi Road, Singapore 207704
3. WEST COAST PARK
If you are hoping to de-stress from the city’s work life, grab a bicycle or a kite and retreat at West Coast Park. It is basically East Coast Park’s less crowded counterpart.
Best of all? The parking at Carparks 2 and 3 are free daily!
Location: West Coast Park, West Coast Highway, Singapore
4. CITY SQUARE MALL
City Square Mall, Singapore’s first eco-mall, is at close proximity to Farrer Park MRT station. Aside from its environmentally friendly features and array of food selections, customers can enjoy their free parking deals (details here).
Otherwise, you will have to pay the following rates:
Monday to Friday (except Public Holiday)
$1.40 for the first hour
$0.70 for every subsequent 30 minutes
$3.00 per entry
Saturday, Sunday & Public Holiday
$1.40 for the first hour
$0.70 for every subsequent 30 minutes
$3.50 per entry
Motorcycle Parking
$2.00 per entry (whole day)
Location: 180 Kitchener Rd, Singapore 208539
5. IKEA ALEXANDRA
IKEA Alexandra Singapore offers free parking for the first three hours for both IKEA FAMILY and Non-IKEA FAMILY members (T&Cs apply). IKEA FAMILY members can avail the free parking with a minimum spending of S$5 on home furnishing products. Non-members can enjoy the same privilege by spending a minimum of S$15 on home furnishing products. Nonetheless, you will be charged with S$1.50/30 minutes.
Starting a new life as a freshly hired expat or a newlywed couple encourages a new chapter of moving into your new nest. That’s not all, upgrading or downgrading of offices can encourage a relocation plan too. These transitions show that it is important to find efficient moving services at affordable prices. Is that possible in Singapore? Yes it is! Here are the 4 Ways To Get Cheap Moving Services In Singapore…
1. HIRE A PROFESSIONAL MOVING SERVICE
Number 1 may be costly compared to the other ways in this list but it is proven to be the most convenient. Professional movers will not only load your items but they can also pack it for you. In order to get the cheapest option, you must compare the professional moving services available in the market. Take advantage of the free quotations and the current promotions. The average price range of these services is from S$40-100.
Here are some of the moving services dedicated to bring professionalism with the best rates:
a. RENTALORRY
With authentic high ratings on their Facebook page, Rentalorry Singapore is a transportation and moving company that hires only professional movers for your common house moves or office moves. Their movers also specialize in plants moving and international moves. Rentalorry invests heavily in providing awesome customer service, so liaising and getting free quotations from them will be smooth and hassle free!
Aiming to provide reliable and fuss-free moving services, Shalom Movers at Kaki Bukit Road, provide several services such as residential moving, office moving, express delivery, and international moving.
If you were only moving a certain amount of items (i.e., 2-4 boxes) then, hiring a cab would do the trick. If you are relocating to a relatively short distance then, the ride will only cost you about S$8-15. Here is a comprehensive list of Singapore Taxi services complete with contact numbers and booking fees: taxisingapore.com.
3. RIDE THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
One of the cheapest ways to move your items from Point A to Point B is to carry it via MRT or Bus. Although, this can be less convenient as security check guards may want to check your items first. Nonetheless, Singapore’s efficient public transportation will get you there on time.
4. SEEK HELP FROM A FRIEND
If you have a kind-hearted friend that is willing to help you move your stuff by using his or her car then, you are the luckiest of all. A good friend who is willing to make a few rides back and forth without anything in return is a friend for keeps. Give back by cooking a lovely meal for two in your new home.
Image Credits: Alpha via Flickr
* Update 29 Sep 16: An earlier version of this article includes 3 professional moving services, of which 2 are no longer in operation. We have added Rentalorry which provide a large fleet of transportation vehicles at competitive rate
Earlier this month, Singaporeans were taken aback when we were told by the Public Transport Council (PTC) that there will be a fare hike of 2.8 per cent in April 2015. It was no surprise that it was met with public outcry when the fare adjustment did not tally with the price of crude oil which has plummeted from $110 a barrel to $45 a barrel. Gas price has in fact fallen for a record of 17 consecutive weeks as at the time of writing.
The reason that there was a increase in fare prices despite falling oil prices was because of a remaining 3.4 per cent that was rolled over from last year fare’s adjustment. Last year, fare should increase by 6.6 per cent but because implementing the full fare hike may significantly increases the expenses of an average household, the fare only went up 3.2 per cent. This year fare adjustment has in fact went down by 0.6 per cent due to lower energy cost which explained why overall there was still a 2.8 per cent increase.
The question that we may be asking is whether the increase is justifiable after taking into account various factors such as wage level, inflation rate and energy cost – the metrics used in the fare formula.
We shall look at some of the reasons that Singaporeans has voiced out.
Service level has not seen significant improvements
While it is understandable that trains, tracks and buses have their usual wear and tear, service level has not seen significant improvements since 2011 where SMRT had received two fines of $1 million for the massive disruptions in the month of December. SMRT was fined $200,000 for a 40-minute disruption in January and $100,000 for a 50-minute disruption in May last year. In 2013, SMRT was also fined $400,000 for safety breaches in October.
The most recent delay happened two days ago:
[NSL]: Estimate 20 mins additional travelling time from #Sembawang to #YioChuKang towards MarinaBay due to track fault.
LTA and the PTOs have to restore public confidence before even talking about a fare increase – MP Liang Eng Hwa speaking in Parliament in 2013
The benefits of privatisation has not been materialised
It was believed that privatization would lead to improve efficiency and thus reduce costs. With a profit motive, transport operators will aim to innovate and be efficient in their operations. This will in turn lead to cost reduction and savings can then be passed on to the commuters.
Unfortunately this has not been the case in Singapore when the duopolistic nature of our transport system has not made our two PTOs competitive. With no overlapping of routes and a industry with a high barrier of entry, PTOs see no need to compete with each others for profits and market share. Moreover, Singaporeans also depends heavily on MRT and buses for commuting and one would fail to see how this will lead to innovation from our PTOs.
For bus services, it is clear that being privately managed does not equate to a more efficient outcome as government intervention is needed to expand the number of buses and thus improving connectivity and better service level. This is evident when the government has implemented a $1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) in 2012.
What about other countries? Take the British Rail for example. Railway companies in Britain had been self sufficient prior to privatisation by the government of John Major. Now Britain’s Railways are one of the most expensive in the World despite receiving four times more in taxpayers’ subsidies than a state-owned British Rail.
Comparison to Hong Kong’s MTR and Taiwan’s Metro
Hong Kong’s MTR boasts a 99.9% on-time rate for many years and is even looking at running operations in other parts of the World in Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia.
For the NSWEL performance against LTA’s Operating Performance Standards, train arrival punctuality has went south for a consecutive of 5 years.
Hong Kong’s MTR has also moves close to 5 million passengers a day compared to 2.5 million in Singapore, but surprisingly the frequencies and punctuality of the Hong Kong’s MTRs has managed the crowd during peak hour so well that you hardly see the crowded and congested platforms in Singapore.
If you think that commuters in Hong Kong and Taiwan are paying more for better services, you would be surprised that they actually match up or even pay lesser than what commuters in Singapore are paying.
(Source, Public Transport Council)
Have i missed out that you can also get free WIFI at every stations in Hong Kong’s MTR, Taiwan’s Metro and even the Seoul’s Subway? Though Singapore has only recently started to offer free WIFI in selected stations, one may only wonder why we are lagging behind the rest of the Asian Tigers.
Public transport as a merit good
Public transport is considered as a merit goods and in Singapore where land is scarce, the role of MRT and buses help to reduce private vehicles ownership and thus reduce road congestion. By increasing fares when prices of fuel and COE are decreasing, are Singaporeans getting the wrong signal that one should consider owning a private vehicle? For the extra comfort and convenience, it would be no surprise to see more people choosing car as their mode of transport.
Moreover, another benefit of public transport is that it reduces pollution as less vehicle on the roads would also means less air pollutants emitted to the atmosphere. This generally leads to a better quality of living with healthier individuals.
Less taxpayer’s money is also spent on infrastructure costs such as building more expressways, expanding roads and increasing parking lots which could have been better used to improve and subsidise healthcare costs.
Public transport operators to earn supernormal profits
Should public transport operators earn supernormal profits at the expense of its citizens and taxpayers? Everyone has contributed to the construction of roads, railway tracks and depot stations (whether you use it or not) in the form of tax. In fact, public transport operators in Singapore is one of the few that is profitable in the World with a farebox recovery ratio of 125% in 2008.
The truth is taxpayers and majority of the people have no interest in SMRT or SBST. Whether the PTOs are making a dollar today or a million dollar tomorrow, unless you are its employee or shareholder, it hardly matters. What commuters are concerned about is how fares adjustment will affect them and their standard of living.
Critics may argue that profits are dwindling for the past few years due to increasing operating costs. The decline in profits is evident in the chart below.
(Source: SMRT Financial Statements, in $millions)
As one may have expected after the spate of disruptions in 2011, we expect the transport operator to step up on improving its ageing trains and tracks.
(Source: SMRT Financial Statements, in $millions)
Staff and related costs also increased because of the need to hire more staff to handle the increased ridership in MRT and buses.
(Source: SMRT Financial Statements, in $millions)
What is important here is not finding out why the profits of transport operator declined but rather asking ourselves what is the appropriate level of profits that public transport operator should make?
From the charts above, one can see that profits has climbed sharply from 2002 to 2009 while the costs has been relatively flat for the same time period. What does this tell you? One would expect the profits to soar to a high of $162.9 million in FY2010. Were the amount allocated to repairs and maintenance sufficient to keep our trains moving with minimal disruptions? The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) don’t think so.
What about staff and related costs? It’s realistic to say that Singapore’s population has been increasing every year and this would thus lead to increased ridership. It is surprising to see that staff and related costs have been rather stagnant before FY2009. It is no wonder that during these period, Singaporeans were complaining about congested trains and buses and the long wait for buses on certain routes and the need for the government to implement BSEP.
The achievement would have been commendable if some of these gains were passed on to the commuters as cost savings and not as dividends to shareholders. Ideally, in a nationalised transport system, these profits would have been reinvested to improve the standard, increase reliability and keep fares affordable.
Now ask yourself if the benefits of a better, cheaper and more reliable public transport has been realised? Has the increased profitabilty of privately owned transports translated to better services?
The principle for setting fares was clear. Fares will be kept as low as possible, consisted with collecting enough revenue to meet the running costs of the MRT, replace parts and equipment regularly and provide company shareholders a reasonable return. – Transport Minister Yeo Ning Hong, 9 July 1986
What’s your view on the fare increase? Is the fare adjustment, a fair one? Share your thoughts with us.
