THE total number of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) available for the period of August to October 2024 has increased 1.2 per cent or 179 to 15,283, compared to the preceding three-month period of May to July.
By percentage, Category C (commercial vehicles and buses) posted the largest increase: 5.4 points or 67 to 1,299.
Quotas across the other categories saw changes of 1.5 per cent or less. Category A, used to register mainstream passenger cars, increased 1.5 per cent or 89 to 5,864. Category B, for larger and more powerful cars, rose 0.9 per cent or 36 to 3,980. Category D, for motorcycles, remained the same at 3,105. Category E, the open category that can be used to register any type of vehicle except for motorcycles, was the only category to post a drop. It declined 1.2 per cent or 13 to 1,035.
COE quotas in 2024 have been stable due to a change in the computing of quotas and the application of the “cut and fill” policy.
The COE system is used to control vehicle population in Singapore. Only Category C is allowed 0.25 per cent growth per annum. So the key determinant of COE quotas is the number of vehicles de-registered in the preceding period.
Since February 2023, the number of COEs available is the rolling average of deregistrations in the previous four quarters, which has made the COE supply more stable. Previously, quotas were determined by the number of de-registrations in the preceding six months, and before that, three months.
Cut-and-fill, as termed by the Land Transport Authority, was first announced in May 2023. It is the policy of bringing forward guaranteed future de-registrations from peak years to add to the current supply of COEs.
For August to October 2024, cut-and-fill numbers have been similar to the previous period.
Category A received 1,100 compared to 1,107. Category B received the same amount of cut-and-fill, or 800 certificates. Category D received 741 certificates, an increase from 493 in the previous round, although the total certificates available for that category remain the same at 3,105.
