Certificate to own car in Singapore rockets to $106,000
Certificate to own car in Singapore rockets to $106,000
Cost of ‘certificate of entitlement’, introduced in 1990 to control number of cars, now equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in US
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Singapore has a 10-year “certificate of entitlement” (COE) system, introduced in 1990, to control the number of vehicles in the small city-state, which is home to 5.9 million people and can be driven across in less than an hour.
Including COE, registration fees and taxes, a new standard Toyota Camry Hybrid currently costs S$251,388 ($183,000) in Singapore, compared with $28,855 in the US.
In 2020, when fewer people in Singapore were driving, the price of COEs dropped to about S$30,000; a post-Covid increase in economic activity has led to more car purchases while the total number of vehicles on the road is capped at about 950,000.
The rocketing price puts cars firmly out of reach of most middle-income Singaporeans, putting a dent in what sociologist Tan Ern Ser said was the “Singapore dream” of upward social mobility – having cash, a condominium and a car.
Singaporeans have been hit by persistent inflation and a slowing economy, and some are selling the cars they bought when certificate prices were low to make a profit.
Jason Guan, 40, an insurance agent and father of two, said he bought his first car, a Toyota Rush, for S$65,000 in 2008, including the price of the COE.
The original article contains 389 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 48%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I’ve never heard a more perfect term than “Certificate of Entitlement.”
That did, Singapore has one of the most well developed mass transit systems in the world, so if there’s anywhere you can live without a car…
this is a good thing, other countries should do it too
Other countries like Singapore, sure. Countries where you've got to go 20-25 km just to buy basic groceries, fuck no.
I lived in Singapore without a car, there is no need to own a car. I used public transport and ride sharing without ever feeling that having a car would have improved my experience. In Hong Kong it was the same, and I lived in the Northern Territories, however in Sydney we had a car even though public transport was great, because its a big fucking country. Now in Penang, Malaysia there is no usable public transport, so a car is absolutely essential.
I'm disabled and live among farms with no immediate public transport... I don't think other countries should try this. If I couldn't afford a car, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere.
Upvote because you were at 0. I don't think paying $100,000 for the ability to drive a car is a good system.
Car dependency is better fixed by better city planning.
Singapore has pretty good city planning. But you still need a way to disincentivize car ownership, otherwise you end up with overloaded roads anyway.
do you pay $100k to get a liscense or do you just have to have that much in your bank account or credit?
You need to pay. It is a bidding, as mentioned in the first paragraph.
Equating a city-state with the rest of the world is silly and impractical.
And you don't have to be a car freak to know what this means for your freedom of movement if your government has this much control over the modes of transportation.
that price is too high! /s
I would have thought lemmy wont root for gaining privileges with more cash.
Cars have a societal cost that is far greater than the car-related taxes paid by car owners. Aka car owners are subsidized by non car owners. Not saying Singapore has a fair system but people drastically underestimate how expensive cars infrastructure is for society.