S’pore to halt car population growth next year

SINGAPORE: Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive places to own a vehicle, will not allow any growth in its car population from February, citing the small city-state’s land scarcity and billions of dollars in planned public transport investments.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it was cutting the permissible vehicle growth rate in the city-state to zero percent from the current 0.25% per annum for cars and motorcycles. The rate will be reviewed in 2020.

Singapore tightly controls its vehicle population by setting an annual growth rate and through a system of bidding for the right to own and use a vehicle for a limited number of years.

It is one of the world’s most densely populated nations and already has an extensive public transport system.

“In view of land constraints and competing needs, there is limited scope for further expansion of the road network,” it said.

Singapore, whose total population has risen nearly 40% since 2000 to 5.6 million now, counted more than 600,000 private and rental cars on its roads as of last year.

These include cars used by drivers that work with ride-hailing services such as Grab and Uber, which are becoming increasingly popular.

Singapore has expanded its rail network length by 30% and has added new routes and capacity in its bus network.

The government will keep investing S$20bil (RM62bil) in new rail infrastructure, S$4bil (RM12bil) to renew, upgrade and expand rail operating assets, and another S$4bil in bus contracting subsidies over the next five years, the LTA said. — Reuters

In view of land constraints and competing needs, there is limited scope for further expansion of the road network.

Singapore Land Transport Authority