The COE System Was Skewed

When Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew made the announcement on Friday that taxis will be removed from the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding process from next month onwards, he said the move was a response to public feedback that taxi operators unduly skewed COE prices. And we always thought the car dealers were the bad guys colluding with each other for each round of bidding. Maybe the minister knows something we don't.

From 1 August, taxis will be removed from the bidding process and will have to pay the Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) for Category A (1600cc and below) which is the moving average of the COE prices for the last 6 months. COEs used by taxi operators will also be taken from the quota for Category E, usually meant for bigger cars. Bottomline, it appears the total available COEs issued by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will remain unchanged. How does that address a broken system?

The fact, obvious to everyone but this poor excuse of a transport minister, is that even as LTA reduces the number of COEs to be issued, the total population (resident and non-resident) has been growing unabated, thanks to the other broken policy of bringing in the foreigners by the plane loads. To exacerbate the situation, the hated National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) is advertising our country as the destination of choice for the filty rich, i.e. those who will take up 3 or 4 COEs per person, and think nothing of the $90,000 PQP because their other car is a Lamborghini. Meanwhile, the number of kilometers of roads, like the rest of the country's strained infrastructure, has never kept pace with the number of people crammed into the little red dot.

LTA said more details will be unveiled next week. Maybe they have a magic solution up their sleeves, but don't bet too much on it. You expect a submariner to come up with a sensible solution for the roads?