The Governance of Risks in Ridesharing: A Revelatory Case from Singapore

TL;DR

This paper examines how the Singaporean government manages the risks associated with ridesharing through a detailed case study, highlighting governance strategies in a context of technological innovation and social risk mitigation.

Contribution

It provides an in-depth analysis of Singapore's risk governance practices in ridesharing, offering insights into proactive and adaptive policy approaches over time.

Findings

Singapore employs a proactive governance approach to ridesharing risks.

Risk management strategies have evolved alongside technological adoption.

Singapore's case offers lessons for other countries' governance of innovative transport technologies.

Abstract

Recently we have witnessed the worldwide adoption of many different types of innovative technologies, such as crowdsourcing, ridesharing, open and big data, aiming at delivering public services more efficiently and effectively. Among them, ridesharing has received substantial attention from decision-makers around the world. Because of the multitude of currently understood or potentially unknown risks associated with ridesharing (unemployment, insurance, information privacy, and environmental risk), governments in different countries apply different strategies to address such risks. Some governments prohibit the adoption of ridesharing altogether, while other governments promote it. In this article, we address the question of how risks involved in ridesharing are governed over time. We present an in-depth single case study on Singapore and examine how the Singaporean government has addressed risks in ridesharing over time. The Singaporean government has a strong ambition to become an innovation hub, and many innovative technologies have been adopted and promoted to that end. At the same time, decision-makers in Singapore are reputed for their proactive style of social governance. The example of Singapore can be regarded as a revelatory case study, helping us further to explore governance practices in other countries. Keywords: risk; ridesharing; transport; governance; innovative technologies; case study; Singapore