LTA cuts number of available COEs by 12.88% from February to April

Aspiring carowners can only bid for 8,752 COEs in the next three months.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is reducing the supply of certificates of entitlement (COEs) by 12.88% to 8,752 from February-April from 10,046 in November 2018-January 2019, an announcement revealed.

The supply of Category A COEs which encompass vehicles up to 1600cc and 130bhp will shrink to 3,300 from 3,361 per month. Category B COE supplies will drop 2.91% to 2,399.

The supply for COEs of goods vehicles and buses under Category C will also decline to 608 from 658, whilst COEs for motorcycles under Category D will fall 25.2% to 1,651 from 2,207, LTA noted.

Open Category COE supply for vehicles which can be used for any type will also drop from 1,079 to 794.

The COE quota was said to consist of the replacement COEs from vehicles deregistered in the preceding three-month period of October to December, a provision of 0.25% per annum growth for Category C based on its vehicle population, and adjustments for changes in the taxi population, replacement of commercial vehicles under the Early Turnover Scheme and expored COEs.

Singapore has long limited the number of cars on its roads with LTA data showing that there are a total of 612,256 cars and station wagons by end-2017 which is less than a 100,000-unit-increase from the 514,685 cars and station wagons on the streets in 2007.