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Singapore transport
What it costs to put a vehicle on the road, what the rail network is made of, and where the cameras are pointing.
| Category | Premium | Change | Quota | 36-month trend | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat A Cars up to 1600cc / 130bhp | S$123,890 | -1.7% | 1,226 | S$126,000Jul 2026 | |
| Cat B Cars above 1600cc / 130bhp | S$129,910 | +0.0% | 926 | S$150,001Oct 2023 | |
| Cat C Goods vehicles and buses | S$91,545 | -2.5% | 315 | S$93,889Jul 2026 | |
| Cat D Motorcycles | S$10,503 | +3.0% | 521 | S$20,090Jan 2010 | |
| Cat E Open category | S$131,000 | +0.8% | 254 | S$158,004Oct 2023 |
Category A premium · Jan 2010 to Aug 2026
197 exercises since Jan 2010 Land Transport Authority, COE bidding results
- NSL North-South Line 1987 The first line to open. Runs the original spine north from the city and out to Jurong East.
- EWL East-West Line 1987 Opened alongside the North-South and serves the airport through a branch at Tanah Merah.
- NEL North East Line 2003 The first fully automated heavy-rail line here, and entirely underground.
- CCL Circle Line 2009 Loops the city fringe instead of crossing it, so it exists to relieve the radial lines.
- DTL Downtown Line 2013 A long diagonal through the centre, opened in three stages over five years.
- TEL Thomson-East Coast Line 2020 The newest line and a second north-south spine, opened in stages and still extending.
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Land Transport Authority traffic images, via the national open-data service
Scheme Electronic Road Pricing Introduced 1998, replacing the 1975 Area Licensing Scheme; the first urban congestion charge anywhere
Charging basis Point, class, half hour The same gantry can charge nothing at one hour and a substantial amount at another
Rate review Against measured speeds Rates move to hold traffic inside a target speed band, not to raise a set sum
Successor Satellite positioning An on-board unit replaces the gantry; installation runs across the vehicle population rather than switching on one date
Rates are reviewed quarterly against measured speeds, so any figure printed here would be accurate for one quarter and wrong afterwards. The authority publishes the table in force; what does not change is the mechanism above: a charge aimed at a speed, priced by where you are and when.
The two schemes are frequently conflated and do different things. The quota decides how many vehicles exist; road pricing decides when and where they are driven. A country could run either without the other.
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