SINGAPORE: Two major private-hire companies said they have not bid aggressively for Certificate of Entitlements to increase their fleet sizes in recent months, rejecting suggestions that their actions have led to record-breaking COE premiums.
The statements come after some netizens blamed such companies for the eye-watering premiums: The most recent bidding results on Jul 6 saw the Open Category hit S$110,524, breaking a nearly three decade-record, as premiums rose across the board. Transport analyst Walter Theseira at the Singapore University of Social Sciences told CNA that Uber at the time was trying to expand its fleet"at all costs".
"When you look at the landscape in Singapore, it makes a lot of sense because many of these providers would have actually cut their fleets severely during COVID, or they would have let their older vehicles expire without renewing the COE," he said. "Drivers can't pay for the prices; the cost is too high," he said, adding that there was still time for fleet expansion as its current cars were about five to six years old.
"Despite the harsh COE environment, Tribecar has been refreshing our fleet for the community on a monthly basis," the spokesperson added. LTA said then that taxi operators took up a larger proportion of COEs, up to 25 per cent of Category A, and thus influenced COE prices. "Car-sharing in Singapore is a growing but budding scene, and the industry barely has 3,000 cars on the roads," the spokesperson said, noting that Tribecar has 1,400 vehicles on the road, which he said is more than competitors like GetGo, BlueSG and Shariot.
The open price system allow last minute surge to corner the market by dealers.
Ask LTA lah