Singapore to freeze car numbers

Singapore authorities on Tuesday announced they will freeze the number of vehicles on its roads from February 2018, the media reported.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) cited the scarcity of land and public transport upgrades as reasons for the cap, reports the BBC.

The densely populated country has strict policies aimed at limiting the number of cars on its roads.

As a result, car ownership rates are far lower in Singapore than in other countries.

In addition to caps, Singapore has a deliberate policy of elevating the cost of owning a car in an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

The cap applies to private cars and motorcycles but not to goods vehicles and buses, according to the LTA.

Despite the government's policies, there are nearly one million vehicles on Singapore's roads. Just over 600,000 of those are private and rental cars, including cars used by ride-hailing services such as Uber and Grab.

--IANS

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