- More incentives to drive an alt-car
Making use of operant conditioning, we can give more incentives to Singaporeans to encourage them to buy an alt-car. Rewards, or incentives, in this case, will increase the likelihood of a behaviour occurring. An example of an incentive is rebates, which is to give people money in the form of discounts or cash-back. Motorists can be given rebates for purchasing an alt-car and thus, they will pay less for their alt-car. Another example would be lesser road tax. Understandably, the Singaporean government hopes to reduce and control the total number of vehicles on the road. However, I believe this should go hand in hand with trying to encourage motorists to switch over to greener cars. Thus, by charging comparably lower road taxes on alt-cars, people will see that it is more cost-savvy to purchase an alt-car in the long run.
- Heavier punishment for traditional fuel cars
A common form of punishment is taxes and laws. This will curb and reduce behaviours that are not wanted. Therefore, in the case of cars, we could increase the road tax on traditional fuel cars. Consumers will calculate the overall long-term cost of owning a traditional car and realise it is very expensive. Coupled with increasing incentives to drive an alt-car, this will drive down sales of traditional fuel cars even further.
- Pass on knowledge to people
Having the relevant knowledge to an environmental knowledge and aligning one’s attitudes with pro-environmental ones, are the first step to change in behaviour. In the case of alt-cars, we should spread knowledge about the benefits of alt-cars and the harmful effects of traditional fuel cars. However, those are just the basics, people must also be equipped with knowledge on how to help the environment and reduce the damage on the earth. Having knowledge and the intention to act desirably, will produce the best results. And, it was found that having ecological awareness would increase one’s likelihood to act in a sustainable way.
It is also important to change people’s attitudes towards cars and how driving a car will contribute to environmental problems. Changing people’s attitudes can come hand in hand with increasing their knowledge. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour, when one’s attitudes are changed, it will influence their behaviour.
- Campaign maybe?
All the suggestions I mentioned above could, in fact, be incorporated into a large-scale campaign to promote alt-cars in Singapore. An important aspect that must be included is to play on people’s emotions. We should try to emotionally engage people by making them feel personally responsible for the environmental problems in the world.
An idea would be to incorporate this campaign with the annual Singapore Motorshow. The Motorshow is an event that draws enthusiastic fans of all things motoring. Car manufacturers will usually buy booths to showcase their latest models. It is during this event that we can encourage both car manufacturers to sell their alt-cars and consumers to buy them. In fact, during the Singapore Motorshow 2016, many manufacturers actually debuted their hybrid cars. Speakers can be invited to share their insights on the latest technology for hybrid cars and electric cars. There is often stunt driving during the Motorshow, so an idea would be to combine this with a showcase of people driving alt-cars, to show that they are indeed comparable to traditional fuel cars!