I think the recent COE prices only shows one of the disadvantages of such a quota system. It benefits the rich compared to the everyday man because to them, the COE prices do not matter in their purchases while to others it might be a means of livehood.
Therefore, it's time to implement the COE, HDB style. What does that mean? Every Singaporean should be entitled to one COE based on the going price. If you need more than one car, you'll have to borrow less for the 2nd car, and have an excess charge on top of the COE price. For example, let's say you already have one car and you're buying an additional car, you have to pay a 40% downpayment in cash, and you need to pay 10% extra on top of the COE price that you have bidded for.
Implementing this will also reveal if the taxis are unfairly affecting the price of COE and if a separate category should be created just for them. Delaying the cut in COE is not resolving the root cause of the problem.
5 comments:
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That assumes there are enough COEs for everyone. We have about 500k plus cars now (after taking away company, rental cars, taxis etc). But about 2 m plus working adult citizens.
Not everyone will or can drive but yes, you're right. It depends on how much you want to tweak this idea. For example, if this is implemented and there is no change, tighten the rules slightly. Make it one car per household. I'm sure the government has statistics on how many people are staying under one roof and this is implementable.
My main aim for recommending this is to eliminate the possibility that the prices are driven up by people who own multiple cars.
However, I got a strange feeling that it's the taxis that's causing this COE spike.
Actually, it's really the rich that are pushing up the COE. Those who can afford a $250K and above car have no qualms paying for the COE (which defrayed over a decade is < $10K a year). We used to joke about someone who drives his very loud "4-room flat" around S'pore.
The COE effect is just a manifestation of inflation. And yes, it surely affects the normal S'porean like you and me. :(
whether it's the rich or taxis, I still feel that given that the land space is limited in Singapore, control should be tighten on the ownership of cars, and a separate category for public transport such as taxis should be implemented. In fact, why not lump taxis under commercial vehicles? Why is it at Cat A is beyond me.
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