No decision yet on new COE category for private-hire cars

A decision has not been made on whether to carve out a separate certificate of entitlement (COE) category for private-hire cars, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat.

- Lee Nian Tjoe Senior Transport Correspondent

Creating a separate COE category is one of the issues being considered in an ongoing review of the point-to-point transport sector, which Mr Chee said he will give an update on during the debate on his ministry's budget in 2025 in Parliament.

He added that the Government is unlikely to decide on whether to have a new category by then due to the difficulty of determining how many COEs to allocate to private-hire cars and the impact this move would have on existing COE categories.

Speaking to reporters in an interview on Dec 3, Mr Chee said that unlike taxis, private-hire cars can be converted into personal cars, and vice versa.

Second, the demand from rental fleet companies fluctuates, which makes it difficult to accurately assess the supply they will need.

COEs for a new private-hire category would have to be drawn from the supply set aside for Category A – for smaller and less powerful cars – and Category B, which is for larger, more powerful cars.

Shifting too many COEs would cause premiums in the two car categories to spike, Mr Chee noted.

But shifting too few could result in an insufficient number of private-hire cars, which in turn would mean higher fares, especially during peak hours.