GetGo's co-founder Toh Ting Feng makes driving more sustainable

With 1,800 vehicles at 1,300 locations, GetGo has grown into Singapore’s largest car-sharing platform, serving 200,000 users. Toh, 39, is not able to provide revenue figures for 2022, but confides that it is several times more than in 2021, when revenue “surpassed $10 million”, say reports.

“Cars have always been a part of my family”, says Toh, whose career spans the military, real estate, and consumer technology. His dad, who owned a used car business, would often drive the family to McDonald’s for supper. He also taught Toh his first lessons in entrepreneurship. “It’s about conviction and focus. My dad encouraged me to find something I truly believed in and to give it my all.”
Entrepreneurship is also about purpose. Many people think it is about value and wealth creation; while these are important, they are not sufficient to sustain an entrepreneurial journey. A strong sense of purpose is what drives entrepreneurs.
This purpose is aptly encapsulated by GetGo’s dual mission. According to Toh, car-sharing offers more than just freedom of movement; it also contributes to a sustainable mobility ecosystem in Singapore.

Related: The best electric cars in Singapore for an eco-friendly ride

Car-sharing reduces the environmental impact of driving

Vernon Wong

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Over 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are released every year by nearly one million vehicles on our roads, which exacerbates the effects of climate change. This compounds the other problem of car ownership — that it is extremely inefficient as most cars are idle more than 85 per cent of the time.

Toh believes a double-pronged approach is necessary to reduce driving’s environmental impact: sharing to reduce the number of cars needing to be manufactured and electrification to lower emissions during use.

A partnership between Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Singapore and CDG Engie is pushing the latter forward. The agreement allows GetGo to expand its electric vehicles offerings in 2023 with at least 50 Hyundai EVs, including the Ioniq 5, which will be produced in Singapore. It is the first car-sharing platform here to do so.

By 2030, GetGo plans to deploy 10,000 fully electric and hybrid cars. The challenge, Toh says, “is to move towards electrification at a sensible pace, in line with the affordability and quality of electric vehicles from the manufacturers, the availability of charging infrastructure, and government policies.”

Meanwhile, the GetGo team has been working tirelessly to evolve the business. “We are a complex business,” he concedes. “As we are not only a service, we have to build a brand people can trust, a technology platform that’s seamless, as well as data- and tech-driven operational muscle to keep our vehicles in good shape.”

The key to building capabilities with real and long-term benefits is in keeping GetGo’s user journey seamless. “We must be clear about what our users want and need, and more importantly, what they do not. Simple design and technology require a lot of thought, effort, and iteration to reduce any friction,” Toh says.

“As an example, we invested time in technology integrations to make users’ refuelling experience frictionless. Features such as generating an OTP within our app allows them to refuel without taking out their wallet.”

All this will better prepare GetGo for international expansion into potential markets such as Australia or Taiwan in the future.

It probably leaves little time for supper with the family, we say. Toh, a father of three kids aged under 6 who zips around in an MPV laughs. “We live near a McDonald’s outlet, so we walk there!”