Daily Lessons from Life 17 May 2013 - Multiple-car owners may face surcharge, COE system to be refined

"Multiple-car owners may face surcharge, COE system to be refined - CNA 16 May 2013 Individuals who want to own more than one car may need to fork out more cash upfront on top of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), while a car's engine power may be factored into the COE system to better delineate Category A from Category B." Ah. Cars. The fascination of Singaporeans and residents of Singapore. Or are they? Lessons for me are: 1. be honest about this. Cars are expensive if we want to have reasonably moving traffic on the road since we do not have unlimited land to build roads, tunnels and bridges. At the same time, besides being a symbol of 'I have arrived' for some people, most who owned cars claim that it is a necessity. For some, the cars may even be a tool of making a livelihood!; 2. so there is a need to distinguish between 'private' and 'public' and 'tools of trade' cars. 'Tools of trade cars' should be those trucks, lorries, cement mixers, public transportation vehicles like taxi/bus/police/army/Civil Defense/etc, etc. I think these are already taken care of by the category called: Goods vehicles?; That leaves the 'private' cars. 3. owners of 'private' cars basically are those who can afford a luxury good as cars are luxury goods. Let's be very clear about it. Let the COE system be an auction system where the bidder pays for what he or she had bidded. None of the current, all bidders pay the 'lowest of the qualified bid' i.e. if everyone bids S$100k and the lowest qualified bid is S$80k, everyone pays only S$80k. This simply encourages over-bidding since some know they will never have to pay for an inflated sum tough a freak case can happen. As for 'aspiring car owners' and 'I really need cars to transport my aged parents and young children and maids', you simply have to have the money to afford the COE and the cars. If not, use public transportation like taxi or MRT or bus. No if or but about it. It is reality. Having said that, the MOT simply has to step up to make sure that the public transportation system works and works well. This in collaboration with the MND to ensure that Singaporeans and residents REALLY do not need to move too far away from this tiny Red Dot as they live, work, play, rest, study, get cremated and put to his or her final resting place within the presincts or regional centers they are housed in!! Perfect solution! A vision we are supposed to work on. Yes?