Comments on Sky High COE

I had been reading with much interest the suggestions that people are giving in contrast to the sky-high COE prices today.

As time of writing this post, COE for CAT B 1600cc and above is at $91,000, just marginally shy of the $100k market.

One common suggestion that stands out is the reduce / modify / or even abolish the entire COE system and transfer the cost from owning a car to using a car. That is cars should be priced according to market forces and they should be no government intervention (apart from the import tax) to deter people from buying the car.

However, once the owner of the car drives the car say into town, he/she will need more charges than the current charges now. And since they are paying less in installments, they have a choice of spending the money saved to drive into town or save the money and choose an alternative form of transport.

Thus the rationale should be that the person who parked his/her car most of the time in the carpark should pay the least while the person who drives everyday, especially into congested area should be made to pay the most.

If you observed that people are shunning ERPs for $2 or $3 per time they pass through the gantry, I don't see why a higher charge will not deter the average motorists to drive into town and contribute to congestion.

In Singapore, a $120k (inclusive of COE) Toyota Vios depreciates around $40 a day. Adding up other fixed cost like insurance and road tax to average out to be about $5 per day, making it about $45 a day. Isn't this one significant reason why people cannot not drive each day as whether one drive or not, the $45 is still incurred (obviously you need to pay more than $45 when you drive as the variable costs comes in)
For the same car, less than $60k COE,  it becomes $20 depreciation a day, $25 with all fixed cost, doesn't this figure make it more feasible for one to leave the car at home the whole day or just use the car at night with the option to use the car whenever necessary?

I think that making people give up driving is a far more effective idea than making people giving up their cars. To many, if not all, there will be some occasions where you will need to drive, such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, family gatherings, even just to drive out for suppers etc. As these events happen mainly on weekends and public holidays, out of the peak hours and peak areas, they hardly cause serious congestions.

Another good suggestion that I want to highlight here is to ballot for COE. The argument is that now with the sky high prices, it only allows the rich people to buy 2 or 3 cars while depriving the privileges to those whom really need a car: E.g.: Parents with children or people with elderly parents or people who need to fetch people who are not-so-mobile.

This way, it is a fairer system which does not deprive one of owning a car when you need it