Carpooling Singapore Law You Should Know About

You Can’t Afford to Miss Out on Any of These Carpooling Singapore Law if you are Carpooling in Singapore

Carpooling, or ride-sharing, has been really popular in Singapore these days. With the road traffic increasing and the difficulties to find a taxi in the peak hour, people are resolving to an effective alternative; that is carpooling in Singapore. There are various advantages to carpooling, of course, with multiple people sharing the same ride, but still, there are some carpooling regulations in Singapore that you should be familiar with. The rules are simple, yet, you will be breaking the law even if you unknowingly miss out on them. Here is a list of the Carpooling Singapore law you should know about before going to your next carpooling trip.

 

The primary rule is that you can’t be providing carpooling services more than two times in the city-state.

It means that if you have a regular colleague travelling with you, you will only be able to provide the service two-way; once when you both go to work and another; when you come back.

Anyway, if you do want to offer a carpooling service more than the two times a day threshold, you will have to acquire a Private Hire Car Driver’s Vocational License (PDVL). This permit is provided by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), and to gain one, you must have a Class 3/3A driving license; valid for at least two years from the day of the application made. Also, you will have to take a special 10-hour course and undergo through some medical and background checks before getting approved.

Also, every private-hire car should display a tamper-evident private-hire decal on both, their front and the back windscreens of their cars for identification.

After knowing that, here are the in-ride aspects of the Singapore carpooling law you can’t afford to miss.

• As a carpool driver, you can’t wait for passenger in the road, taxi stand, bus park or airport terminals.
• The main purpose of your driving the car shouldn’t be providing transportation services to the passenger.
• Both you, and your passenger should be heading to the same place; may not have the same destination, but you can drop him/her off, without straying from your own way.
• Both of you should settle on any agreement like the pick-up date, drop off point or the fees before starting the ride.
• As a driver, you won’t be able to take payment more than the cost which has incurred on the way.
• There can’t be anything on your car implying to the fare or the fees of hiring a carpool.

 
In case you break any Singapore carpool law, you will get penalised according to the act. Here are the penalties if you fail to comply with the rules given.

Any driver providing more than two carpools a day without a valid PDVL will be fined up to S$3000 and might face jail time of up to 6 months.

Drivers without a private-hire decal will be fined up to S$1000, and they might face jail time of maximum three months.

Also, one can’t provide services from a private hire operator if three or more than three drivers under the operator have breached the regulations under one-year time. The probation period for an operator under this case is one month. And if you do happen to provide services under during this blackout time, you will be fined up to S$1000 and will receive a prison time of up to 3 months.

Remember, repeat offenders will be penalized double from the last time they broke the law.

 
Carpooling Singapore laws are strict, but they are on point. As a carpool service provider, you won’t have to worry about them, because after all, they don’t have to be broken for you to provide or receive good carpooling services. For more information like these and carpool services, get to know more about us. As SGCab, we are always willing to help you with all your transportation needs in Singapore.