A program designed to limit car ownership, and hence the number of vehicles on Singapore's roads. Residents have to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted.
There are 5 categories of COE
(a) Non-transferable categories
- Category A: Cars (1600 cc and below) and taxis
- Category B: Cars (1600 cc and above)
- Category D: Motorcycles
(b) Transferable categories
- Category C: Goods Vehicles and Buses
- Category E: Open Category
Note: 'cc' means the size of the car
2) Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the policy
Advantages:
(a) Air would be less polluted due to the controlled number of cars on the roads.
(b) Roads would be less congested as there are lesser cars.
(c) Boosts Singapore's economy as well.
(d) As COE prices go up, less people would want to buy a car and consider taking public transport instead to save the money.
Disadvantages:
(a) As more cars are on the roads, the COE prices would go up as well, because the number of certificates is lowered. People who want to buy a car would have to bid more and more to be able to buy a car.
3) What will happen if the policy was not in place?
More cars will be on the roads, leading to more air pollution, and the roads will be more congested. Even with the ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) system, this problem can't be solved if the policy was not in place.
References
http://blog.omy.sg/aussiepete/tag/certificate-of-entitlement/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_entitlement
