SINGAPORE – Up to 20,000 additional Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) will be injected into the five vehicle categories over the next few years from February 2025.

Announcing this on October 29, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it could increase the vehicle population here by about 2% from current levels as travel patterns evolved, with total vehicle mileage falling by about 6 percent. cent from 2019 to 2023.

The the new Electronic Satellite Road Pricing (ERP) or ERP 2.0 systemit will also enable authorities to better manage traffic congestion and vehicle usage, LTA added.

The injection of COEs – which give the right to own a vehicle – will increase the supply of COEs, although it is not clear at this point how this move will affect COE premiums.

The Straits Times asked LTA how it plans to allocate the additional COEs by vehicle category and over how many years this injection will be distributed.

COE prices had decreased slightly in all categories at the most recent auction exercise on October 23, although premiums for both car categories remained above $100,000. Singapore had 1,003,126 vehicles on the road in September 2024.

LTA said it will consider further COE injections into the vehicle population in the future as additional data and tools become available under ERP 2.0, including the possible option to introduce distance charging.

ERP fares will be adjusted as necessary based on traffic conditions, LTA added.

The authority noted that the addition of COEs from February 2025 is similar to the approach taken when the Government added 10,500 COEs between 1997 and 2003, in addition to the allowed growth rate of vehicles, after the introduction of the ERP system.

Singapore’s vehicle growth rate has been set at zero since 2018, apart from the commercial vehicle population, which can grow by 0.25% per year. The vehicle growth rate is revised every three years, with the last revision in 2021.

On Oct 29, LTA said it will keep the vehicle growth rate for the car and motorcycle categories at zero, while that for commercial vehicles will remain at 0.25% per annum from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2028 .

The Government’s long-term vision remains focused on being “car-lite”, with walking, cycling and public transport as the predominant modes of travel, LTA said.

It noted that the rail network has expanded by 18% from 228 km in 2019 to about 270 km today, with more MRT lines and extensions slated to open in the next few years.

Turning to ERP 2.0, LTA said the system’s satellite technology will allow it to introduce new “virtual ports” to manage congestion in a more flexible and responsive manner. This will come after all the vehicles here are fitted with the new On Board Units (OBUs).