Car numbers sink to a five-year low

Singapore's car population has shrunk to a five-year low, reversing an almost unbroken trend of growth in the past decade, reported The Straits Times. If the cohort of rental cars - which has ballooned on the back of demand from app-based taxi services such as Uber and GrabCar - is taken out, the car population would be the lowest in six years.

The latest statistics from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) showed that the passenger car population had fallen for two consecutive years to reach 575,353 last year. In contrast, rental cars grew by 55.8 percent last year to reach a record number of 29,369.

The unusual growth pattern, which came on the back of a five percent growth in the road network, took place despite a 0.25 percent allowable growth rate in the vehicle quota system. Motor traders said this was because of a time lag between vehicle deregistrations and Certificate of Entitlement (COE) allocation. For instance, the February-April 2016 COE quota is based on vehicles scrapped in October-December 2015.

The LTA, however, said the shrinkage was "temporary" but would not say when it would end. Observers said this could happen within the next two years, when the COE supply, fuelled by record deregistrations, is expected to explode.