Families seeking greater support for car ownership to ease school runs, childcare, and caregiving tasks have been part of ongoing discussions on potential changes to the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system in Singapore. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) addressed these concerns in its consultation paper released on October 8, acknowledging the diverse transportation needs of households at various life stages.

The LTA emphasized the challenges in tailoring COE allocations to family circumstances while maintaining fairness, transparency, and market-driven principles in the system. Prioritizing one group, such as families with young children, would reduce available COEs for others, including caregivers and multi-generational households, who also have significant transport demands. The authority noted the difficulty in managing such allocations fairly given that household situations can evolve over the typical 10-year COE period.

This issue was among several suggestions raised by over 200 participants in the LTA’s engagement exercise, but deemed not suitable for immediate implementation. Another notable proposal involved creating a separate COE category for private-hire vehicles, which includes ride-hailing cars and those leased by operators. Proponents argue that separating these vehicles from private car buyers could make the bidding process more equitable. However, establishing this new category would require setting aside COEs exclusively for private-hire use, potentially driving up prices if substantial numbers are diverted from the current pool. Conversely, allocating too few COEs could reduce the availability of private-hire vehicles on the road, leading to higher rental costs for drivers and increased fares for passengers.

The LTA also highlighted the need for new regulations to ensure private-hire vehicles are used solely for their intended purposes, given their eligibility for personal transport as well.

In addition, some voices called for imposing surcharges on owners of multiple cars to discourage multiple vehicle ownership and free up COEs for first-time or single-car owners. The LTA responded that such measures would likely have a limited effect on COE prices. This is partly because multi-car households, which numbered about 66,000 or 13 percent of all car-owning households in 2025, are not the main contributors to overall COE demand. This figure has declined from approximately 87,000 multi-car households recorded in 2012.

As the COE system continues to balance competing interests and evolving transport needs, the LTA appears cautious about implementing changes that could disrupt its long-established market-driven framework.