COE premiums for cars rise by Carlenko Wang

Certificate of Entitlement premiums for cars has recently raised in the latest bidding exercise. Premiums for big car has increased drastically which rose 6.3 percent while that of open category rose 5.5 percent. Although the premium has raised because of the strong demands for COE and the popularity of new models, buyers are more care about the entitlement to own a car. High COE premiums and the high demand for cars suggests that the Government’ has put efforts to encourage Singaporeans to shift from private to public transport, which does not has the desired effect

In my opinion, indeed we should praise the government’s efforts to let citizens to shift from private transport to public transport so as to promote Singapore’s traffic conditions. However, the government should explore more alternatives to educate citizens the importance of maintaining good traffics and the benefits of taking public transport. This will be more effective than aimlessly raising the premiums of COE as it changes people’s understandings of transport.