Commentary: COE debate should not be about putting cars within everyone’s reach

Singapore's discussions on cars have often focused solely on vehicle numbers. However, Samuel Chng of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities argues the conversation should shift towards people. Cars provide flexibility and certainty in daily life, enabling families to transport children to school, parents to medical appointments, and respond to unexpected needs.

As Singapore considers updates to its Land Transport Master Plan, the focus should be on how public transport, shared mobility, and private ownership can collaborate to ensure flexibility doesn't breed a need for car ownership.

While concerns about private-hire and leasing companies' dominance in the COE market have raised affordability issues, fairness in the COE system isn't about making cars accessible to everyone. The COE system must balance limiting vehicle growth with meeting mobility needs. Suggestions for reform include merging Categories A and B, allocating COEs based on needs, and introducing a separate leasing category. These ideas aim to allocate scarcity and costs more fairly but won't eliminate scarcity.

A car-lite system must provide credible alternatives to ownership, ensuring households can meet mobility needs without sacrificing reliability or flexibility. This requires three priorities: first, focusing on mobility access across different life stages; second, making shared mobility a dependable complement to mass public transport; and third, ensuring that Singapore's Land Transport Master Plan refresh is grounded in lived experiences.

The goal is not to guarantee car ownership for all, but to provide reliable ways to meet mobility needs for all.