COEs Up

Off topic post, perhaps a little of a rant...

The Singapore government has recently announced that the quotas for small cars under 1600CC will be reduced significantly over the next 6 months.  This move will drive up the cost of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which is a license that one needs to bid for in order to buy a car.  Presently, the COE for small cars is over $59,000, which is more than the cost of the car itself!  When we bought our car in 2009, we paid about $40,000 for it, COE and all.  Our car belongs to the 'budget' category, with engine size of less than 1600 cc and hailing from Korea.  It suited our family of 5, living on a single income.

The Singapore government has also recently been lamenting the lack of population increase (aka babies being born).  It is encouraging couples to have more children, and at a younger age.

Public buses in Singapore are well-known for being unfriendly to strollers and wheelchairs, and actually, anything that is not on two strong, healthy legs.

Put all of the above together and what do we have?  One confused me!  I'm not too sure what to put as a priority now.  We are told to have more children. But then cars are being priced out of the reach of any average Singaporean family.  So how do we get our children around?  The buses are unfriendly to pram-toting mums.  Taxi prices are increasing.  So the obvious effect?..... Couples will now think even harder before having children.  After all, if we have a child, mum may probably want to stop working for a few years to care for the child.  Family will be on a single income.  But then we cannot afford to replace our now aging car on a single income with the prices soaring like that.  And mum will be housebound because the only way out is the bus, which is unfriendly for infants in arms and strollers.  So it all looks so bleak.... better not to have children.

Sorry... RANT!