Paul Barter, a former academic and current adjunct associate professor at the National University of Singapore, shares his knowledge and experiences on the challenges faced by the country’s transportation industry, drawing on his 22 years of living in Singapore.
Singapore is an unusual country in that it is a city-state, mainly one island with about 700 square kilometres, so it’s a small place geographically. Located just north of the equator, Singapore has a humid tropical climate and is now home to about 6 million people, making it a relatively high-density place. The majority of the population has ancestry from China, but it’s a multi-ethnic society, with significant numbers of people whose ancestors were from India, the indigenous Malay people, as well as people whose ancestors came from Indonesia and other regions. It’s a fascinating and diverse place.
The history of Singapore’s economic rise and its impact on urban mobility
Economically, Singapore has been very successful, transitioning from a lower-middle-income country to now being one of the wealthiest places on Earth. Today, Singapore is famous for its excellent public transport and equally well-known for its rigorous restrictions on car ownership and the pricing of car use, compared to most other cities worldwide.
Singapore was a relatively poor place before the 1960s. The 1960s were a time of economic success and industrialization, with a boom in building housing for people to replace older, lower-quality housing. This economic success led to a rapid increase in the number of cars and motorcycles, which in turn led to significant traffic problems. By the early 1970s, there was a real crisis, with traffic being a prominent feature of the landscape.
Why did Singapore need to restrict cars?
At that time, Singapore was similar to many middle-income Asian cities today, with pervasive traffic issues that dominated public discourse. However, Singapore was not yet car-dependent; car ownership was still less than 100 per thousand people. It was a minority of people causing significant problems on the roads. In response, a new urban planning process began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which was remarkable for addressing Singapore’s issues, including the traffic crisis. This plan recommended limiting the number of cars and implementing pricing for traffic entering the city centre.
By 1975, these policies were being enacted. The government gradually increased taxes on car purchases, reaching a peak of 185% tax by the early 1980s, effectively tripling car prices. At that time, public transport was still limited to buses, so the government had a long-term plan to build urban rail, the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) system, which wouldn’t open until 1987. So, in the meantime, in 1975, they made drastic improvements to the bus system. Many people assume Singapore’s car restrictions were possible because of the MRT, but in fact, MRT didn’t exist yet, and it was a mad scramble to improve the buses while at the same time, restricting cars.
How did the Vehicle Quota System limit car ownership?
After this major turning point in the early 1970s, Singapore continued to make steady improvements over the following two decades. The MRT opened, though initially it was a small system, and public transport was still largely bus based. Cars remained restricted, with the government slowly controlling the growth rate to ensure infrastructure could keep up. Over time, they shifted from taxes on vehicle purchases to a vehicle quota system, known as the Vehicle Quota System (VQS), allowing the government to control the rate of growth of the vehicle fleet through an auction-based Certificate of Entitlement (COE).
How did Singapore pioneer congestion pricing with ALS and ERP?
Alongside VQS, Singapore replaced its old paper-based congestion pricing system, the Area Licensing Scheme (ALS), with Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). Singapore was a pioneer in congestion pricing, which aims to make drivers consider the wider impact of their driving and make better decisions. ERP uses a network of electronic gantries throughout the city. When a vehicle passes through a gantry, a fee is deducted based on location and time of day, as congestion levels vary.
How did transport fuel equality concerns?
By the 1990s, both ERP and VQS were well-established and gradually expanded beyond the city centre. The vehicle fleet grew at a controlled rate of about 3% per year. By around 2000, Singapore’s urban transport system was widely regarded as a success story, especially compared to other large, congested cities in Southeast Asia. However, there were concerns both in the population and the government that this system was elitist, as cars were largely a luxury for the wealthy. Those who could afford a car enjoyed relatively uncongested roads and ample parking, while others relied on a basic but improving public transport system. Although it was functional, there was discomfort with the sense that cars were only accessible to the rich.
How did rising car ownership bring back congestion and challenges?
In the mid-2000s, this situation shifted. Between 2003 and 2009, car ownership increased drastically as the number of COEs rose, and cars became the cheapest they had ever been for decades. By 2009, serious congestion returned. Rising road pricing fees led to higher costs for new car owners, causing dissatisfaction. Parking was harder to find, and parking fees were increasing, affecting motorists’ satisfaction. Public transport was also affected, as it became more crowded due to the increased congestion. The government responded by reversing course, gradually reducing the vehicle fleet growth rate from 3% to zero, aiming to stabilize the vehicle fleet size. As a result, COE prices rose significantly, making car ownership costly again. Currently, the COE alone costs more than 70,000 Singapore dollars, and the total price of a basic car is around 100,000 Singapore dollars. This return to high costs reignited the issue of elitism, with cars once again seen as mainly for the wealthier residents.
Moving towards a ‘car-lite’ city
Since 2014, Singapore has made a more vigorous effort to enhance its liveability and reduce car dependency. The “car-lite” slogan has become a recurring theme as the government places increasing emphasis on making Singapore a more liveable city focused on building a world-class public transport system to reduce car domination.
Conclusion: Throughout its history, Singapore has restricted cars by:
- Setting a vehicle quota system, to control car growth
- Implementing electronic road pricing
- Developing quality public transport
If you want to understand the fundamentals of urban mobility planning from the hand of Paul Barter, register now to our free online course, Fundamentals of Urban Mobility.
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