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Hundreds of thousands of people in Singapore are in Telegram group chats, created to connect passengers who need a ride to drivers who can give them a lift.

This popular service, with messages coming in the chats every minute or so, is not allowed, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

LTA takes action

In response to Mothership's enquiries, a LTA spokesperson said that car-pooling matched through informal non-business mediums, such as Telegram’s SGHitch, continues to be disallowed.

This was after cases of harassment and injury occurred during these rides.

However, car-pooling arrangements facilitated through licensed business platforms such as GrabHitch, RydePool and other license-exempt business platforms, are currently permitted.

There are also no restrictions on social car-pooling among friends and colleagues.

Carpooling Telegram chat groups popular in Singapore

There are at least four different chats on Telegram that provide this service.

SG Hitch, which started in 2019, has over 199,000 members.

The chat description reads:

"SGHitch serves as a bridge between DRIVERs & HITCHERs to provide a CHEAPER alternative with the demolition of late night Grab Hitch services."

Other chats such as Telegram SG Hitch Singapore and SG Hitch Female Drivers Riders has about 21,136 and 32,396 members respectively, at the time of writing.

The chats can receive thousands of messages each day.

In just a short 15 minutes, over 100 messages were sent in each chat.

SG Hitch and Telegram SG Hitch Singapore both have a feature that automatically deletes messages a day after it was sent.

Members, both drivers and hitchers, simply send a message stating the pick-up and drop-off location, the time they can leave and how many people are coming on board.

If someone is available, they'll send them a direct message to discuss how much the ride will cost.

This process is similar across group chats.

Is it safe?

Many have had unpleasant experiences while taking unregulated hitch rides such as receiving lewd requests from their drivers.

These conversations usually take place outside the group chat.

In 2019, a university student Ong Shuling set up SG Hitch Female Drivers Riders which has grown more than six times from the 5,000 members it had in October 2019.

Ong told The Straits Times that she created the group after experiencing unwanted advances from male drivers. Once during a carpool journey, a man in his 40s who was in the car with Ong tossed S$100 in her lap and asked her to accompany him for dinner at his home.

Ladies in this group can report unsafe activities and harassment they may experience taking rides from drivers in the group.

Despite it having an outlet for users to report cases, LTA strongly encourages commuters who wish to book point-to-point transport services, including commercial car-pooling services, to do so via licensed or license-exempt business platforms, for commuters’ own safety.

Those who encounter individuals who provide illegal car-pooling services can file a report with LTA. They can also visit www.OneMotoring.com.sg to file a report to LTA via the e-service “Report Vehicle-Related Offences”.

Offenders to be fined or jailed

LTA will continue to monitor and take enforcement action against those providing illegal car-pooling and car-pooling matching services.

A person who is guilty of providing a car-pooling matching service will face a fine not exceeding S$10,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.

Also, anyone who provides an illegal car-pooling service without a vocational licence or using an unlicensed vehicle will face a fine of up to S$3,000, imprisonment for a term of up to six months or both.

Top photo by takahiro taguchi on Unsplash.