Expect car permit costs to escalate if cab firms rejoin bidding for COEs

WHEN regulations were tweaked in 2012 to stop taxi companies from certificate of entitlement (COE) bidding, it was partly to address the discontent of many car buyers who perceived cab operators as muscling them out of the right to own a car.

At the time, private-hire operators were an insignificant part of the private transport landscape. Uber was still in its infancy and the ride hailing model had yet to make its presence in Singapore.

That landscape has since changed dramatically, with chauffeur-driven, private-hire vehicles rising from 1,609 in 2014 - the year Uber entered the Singapore market - to 46,903 in 2017, far surpassing the number of cabs, as Uber a…