Speech by Senior Minister of State for Transport, Dr Amy Khor at MOT Committee of Supply Debate 2025

Charting towards a friendlier, more connected and sustainable land transport system

Introduction

1.     Chairman, let me share how we will create more friendly and safe journeys, strengthen connectivity in our land transport system and enable businesses to decarbonise their vehicle fleet for a more liveable and sustainable city. 

Friendly and Safe Journeys for all

2.     At last year’s COS, I announced that Friendly Streets will be expanded to all towns by 2030.

3.     We have since completed works for the 5 Friendly Streets pilots.  We have also completed engagements and progressively started infrastructure works for the 10 Friendly Streets sites announced last year. These are expected to be completed by 2026. 

4.     This year, we will be launching Friendly Streets at 15 more locations islandwide, including in Bukit Timah, Jurong West, Opera Estate, Queenstown, Thomson and Yishun. These locations have a higher proportion of seniors or young families, living in public and private housing estates, who will benefit most from the scheme. We will continue to identify more areas suitable to implement Friendly Streets, possibly Seletar Hills estate as suggested by Ms Ng Ling Ling. 

5.     One of the key features of all Friendly Streets, is the emphasis on pedestrian safety, as highlighted by Mr Shawn Huang. That is why Friendly Streets have road humps and narrower road lanes to slow down speeds. Speed limits are also lowered to 40km/h. To further enhance pedestrian safety, we will roll out the following initiatives from 1 January 2026:

a.     Motorists who commit traffic offences that endanger others, such as speeding, running of red light or failing to give way to pedestrians at Friendly Streets will incur two additional demerit points top of the prevailing demerit point, and an additional $100 in composition sum on top of the prevailing penalties for the offence. These enhanced penalties will then be on par with offences committed at Silver Zones and School Zones. 

b.     We will also extend the lower speed limits for Enhanced School Zones along Primary Schools to full day, instead of only during school arrival and dismissal times. We made this change because school schedules are increasingly more varied and extends beyond the conventional dismissal times. 

6.     Mr Melvin Yong asked agencies to step up enforcement against companies who do not properly secure equipment on board lorries. Agencies will continue to take firm action to enforce this requirement under the Road Traffic Act. It is the responsibility of companies to comply, for the safety of their workers and other road users.

Update on road repurposing projects

7.     In tandem with Friendly Streets, we are pressing on with our road repurposing projects, with six completed thus far.

8.     We had previously shared that we were working to enhance the walking and cycling experience in Tanjong Pagar. I am pleased to announce that after engaging stakeholders in the area, we will repurpose the roadside parking lots along Tanjong Pagar Road to provide wider footpaths and cycling paths. Centre dividers and road humps will be added to slow down vehicles. These enhancements will bring about a safer and more comfortable walking and cycling experience between Tanjong Pagar and Maxwell MRT stations. 

9.     We will also embark on two new road repurposing projects at Tampines and Bedok. In Tampines, we observed very high footfall across Tampines Central 5, where around 60,000 pedestrians a day travel between Tampines MRT station and the malls in Tampines. To enhance the commuting experience, we will pedestrianise a 50-metre-long stretch of Tampines Central 5, where commuters can look forward to a seamless walking path between the transport facilities and malls. 

10.    In Bedok, in collaboration with Adviser Cheryl Chan, we will pedestrianise a 90-metre-long stretch of Bedok North Street 4 and close an adjacent HDB carpark to create a new community space for residents to come together, and a more comfortable walking experience to and from Bedok 85 Market and Fengshan neighbourhood centre. 

11.    Separately, also in Bedok, Mr Faisal Manap would be pleased to know that as part of HDB’s upcoming Bedok North Springs BTO, HDB plans to build a high covered linkway across Bedok North Street 3 to Block 509. 

Point-to-point Transport Industry Review

12.    Next, Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked for an update on the point-to-point transport, or P2P, industry review. 

13.    Since private hire cars, or PHCs, entered the sector in 2013, commuters have benefitted from a more responsive P2P supply. 

14.    Even so, taxis remain important for meeting P2P demand. First, as dedicated P2P vehicles, taxis provide a more stable source of supply throughout the day compared to PHCs. One-shift taxis spend a median of 49 active hours per week serving P2P trips, compared to 34 by PHCs. Second, taxis can offer street-hail services, which remain important for commuters who may be less familiar with local ride-hail apps, and at locations with very high demand.

Further aligning the regulatory regime for taxis and PHCs

15.    At last year’s COS, we converged some regulations between PHCs and taxis to make taxis more viable, as they incur higher operating costs due to existing regulatory differences. However, as Mr Ang Wei Neng pointed out, there are still some gaps. This year, we will introduce further changes to the regulatory regime for taxis and PHCs.

16.    First, we will continue to suspend the growth cap on the taxi fleet. We first suspended the cap in 2021, to help taxi operators replenish their fleet to pre-pandemic numbers. This extended suspension will facilitate the replacement and growth of the taxi fleet.

17.    Second, we will allow taxi operators to convert used vehicles that are less than five years old to taxis. Instead of just buying new vehicles, taxi operators will have an additional option to grow their fleet, which may help reduce costs.

18.    Third, we will allow taxi operators to resell taxis that are more than three years old, capped at 5% of their fleet annually. This will give taxi operators flexibility to resell under-utilised taxis and reduce carrying costs. This added flexibility can also reduce operators’ risks when trialling new taxi models, such as bigger, more expensive multi-purpose vehicles which can better serve larger families.

19.    These moves give taxi operators more flexibility to manage cost and grow their fleet. They complement our moves in the PHC sector to further level the playing field between taxis and PHCs. 

a.     We announced earlier on 19 February that all newly registered, converted or transferred chauffeured PHCs owned by businesses cannot be converted to other vehicle classifications for three years. 

b.     The main reason for this move is to narrow the regulatory gap between taxis and PHCs; it also helps to stabilise the PHC supply. The three year holding period for business-owned chauffeured PHCs parallels our requirement that taxi operators maintain their taxis for at least three years before they can be resold.

c.     We expect the impact of the measure to be manageable, as the majority of bona fide PHC leasing companies already keep their vehicles for more than three years.

d.     Finally, with immediate effect, we will also require the disclosure of a vehicle’s history as a chauffeured or self-drive PHC, or taxi for all newly registered, converted or transferred vehicles. This will apply to vehicles registered using Certificates of Entitlement, or COEs, issued as part of today's ongoing COE bidding exercise. The move will improve transparency in the resale market, and further encourage registration of such vehicles only for their intended purposes.

20.    Beyond these moves, Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked whether we intend to create a separate COE category for business-owned PHCs. We have studied this carefully and decided not to proceed with such a move. 

a.     First, as I had mentioned in this House, the bulk of the demand for Cat A and B COEs has been from local individuals and not from PHC or car leasing companies. In the most recent bidding in February 2025, business-owned PHCs made up 6% and 8% of successful Cat A and B bids respectively. 

b.     Second, quota from existing categories, such as Cat A and B, would need to be taken away to provide the quota for this new separate category. 

c.     We have seen that demand for PHCs varies from quarter to quarter, given that fares and driver supply are highly responsive to commuter demand. It is very difficult to accurately determine the COE quota supply for PHCs that is required to meet the needs of drivers and commuters. 

d.     If we move too much quota away, Cat A and B COE prices will spike because of inadequate remaining quota. Conversely, if we move too little, COE prices for PHCs will be high, with drivers and commuters facing higher rental and fares.  

e.     Therefore, the allocation between PHCs and private cars is best left to the market. What LTA will do is to continue increasing the COE quota every quarter for Categories A, B and C till the supply peak from 2026, by using the cut-and-fill method and the injection of 20,000 new COE quota.

Strengthen contestability

21.    As Mr Saktiandi Supaat noted, another key objective of our P2P regulatory regime is to keep the sector open and contestable. This allows commuters and drivers to choose their preferred platform. Competition also encourages operators to innovate and improve service offerings. As of today, around 60% of drivers use multiple platforms.

22.    While the ride-hail sector is a competitive market, it is also a matching market, and large operators will naturally be better able to match their drivers and commuters. Large operators should therefore bear greater responsibility to ensure that market norms continue to protect the interests of commuters and drivers. These additional responsibilities include higher data disclosure obligations to LTA as regulator, and could include sharing more data with drivers as Ms Jean See suggested.

23.    The additional responsibilities sit on top of our broader regulations to promote multi-homing. They are not meant to curb the growth of any operator, whether in Singapore or overseas markets. These responsibilities are to assure drivers and commuters that large operators will not implement practices that may directly or indirectly restrict drivers’ or commuters’ choice, such as imposing minimum trip requirements on drivers.

24.    We will adopt an iterative approach, by reviewing the requirements as operators continue to evolve their practices in response to market competition.

Improve commuter experience and access to P2P rides

25.    Mr Gan Thiam Poh raised the importance of P2P services for different groups of commuters. Indeed, as our population ages, we expect more commuters to rely on P2P services.

26.    Hence, beyond ensuring a stable supply of taxis, we intend to work with ride-hail operators to make their apps more user friendly for groups such as seniors, who are less comfortable with using mobile apps. 

27.    We will invite operators to submit proposals that can improve the accessibility of their P2P services. LTA will provide co-funding of up to 50%, capped at $500,000 for the development of viable ideas via the P2P Inclusivity Co-funding Grant. We plan to allow applications from Q4 2025 and for support to be provided up to 2028.

28.    Additionally, as raised by Mr Eric Chua and in response to requests from PHC drivers and commuters, we will, for a start, convert nine most frequently used taxi stops in the Central Business District to P2P stops for use as pick-up and drop-off points by taxis and PHCs. We will monitor the impact on road traffic and usage of the converted taxi stops before deciding if this could be expanded to other taxi stops. But taxi stands, where taxis can queue to pick up street-hail commuters, will continue to be for taxis only. This move will make P2P services safer and more convenient for all commuters.

Our Electrification/Decarbonisation Journey

29.    Moving on, Mr Neil Parekh asked for an update on the electric vehicle, or EV, landscape. 

EV adoption rate

30.    The adoption of EVs has been healthy. In 2024, about one-third of all new cars registered were electric, up from 18% in 2023. The momentum has continued into this year, with adoption rate increasing to 38% in January.

EV charger deployment

31.    Our charging network has continued to expand to support the growing EV population. We have more than 19,000 charging points island-wide, close to half of which are publicly accessible. More than 60% of HDB carparks are equipped with EV chargers. We have made good progress, and will ensure all HDB residents who own or wish to own an EV have convenient access to a charger near their homes. 

32.    Deploying the chargers has not been straightforward, as most public carparks were not designed to accommodate EV chargers and allow for a significant draw on electricity. Hence, there are some carparks where the existing electrical infrastructure, like the consumer switch rooms, lack the capacity to support the deployment of EV chargers. For such carparks, we are leveraging technology, such as dynamic load management to help us optimise existing electricity capacity. This will allow us to install EV chargers to meet the needs of EV owners, even as we work on upgrading the electrical infrastructure.

33.    Last year, we shared that we will be increasing the number of fast chargers to meet the needs of commercial vehicle owners, including taxi drivers. We have kickstarted the deployment of fast chargers. By the end of this month, 13 HDB shopping complexes and town centres would be equipped with two 50 kilowatt EV chargers each, including at Woodlands Civic Centre and Connection One. More will be progressively deployed over the year at 45 other sites, including Serangoon and Bedok Town Centres, and JTC industrial premises, such as Bulim Square.

34.    At condominiums, around 1 in 3 are equipped with chargers today, in part supported by LTA's EV Common Charger Grant (ECCG) which has since co-funded about 1,700 chargers. To further encourage charger deployment at condominiums, we will expand the ECCG to co-fund an additional 1,500 chargers on top of the original 2,000, but subject to a cap of $3,000 per charger, and extend the grant duration to 31 December 2026.

35.    To Associate Professor Jamus Lim’s suggestion to change the COE duration for EVs, I should highlight that the current 10 year duration is not based on the lifespan of vehicles. We implemented a 10 year duration as part of our vehicle quota system for greater equity, so that motorists do not own a car in perpetuity, at the expense of future prospective owners. 

36.    Should vehicle owners, including EV owners, decide to deregister their vehicles at any point, they will be able to get a refund of the unused portion of the COE, as well as Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebates.

37.    Having different COE validity periods across powertrains will make the COE system unnecessarily complex. Vehicle technologies will continue to change. So it is not sensible to tie our COE validity periods to specific technologies, let alone the uncertainty of lifespans of EV batteries – as the Associate Professor had noted. We must also not forget that after 2030, hybrids will still be allowed.

38.    As raised by Ms Poh Li San, Mr Ang Wei Neng and Mr Neil Parekh, for heavy vehicles, the market for cleaner energy variants is nascent but we are seeing encouraging market developments. Particularly, for some segments of lorries and buses, there are commercially-ready electric models today. This is an area where we can do more to catalyse adoption in the next bound of land transport decarbonisation.

39.    We will help companies adopt cleaner energy heavy vehicles. As announced by the Minister of Finance at Budget 2025, we will introduce the Heavy Vehicle Zero Emissions Scheme and an Electric Heavy Vehicle Charger Grant. Starting from 1 Jan 2026, we will provide $40,000 in incentives for each new zero-tailpipe emission heavy vehicle registered. We will also provide the first 500 private heavy vehicle chargers co-funding of up to 50% of the charger installation cost, capped at $30,000 per charger. 

40.    These measures will narrow the lifecycle cost gap between an electric and internal combustion engine heavy vehicle and spur adoption of electric heavy vehicles. 

Conclusion

41.    Chairman, in conclusion, we will press on to create friendlier and safer journeys for all, while strengthening the connectivity of our land transport system. Thank you!