Slightly fewer COEs from Feb to July 2013

Slightly fewer Certificatec of Entitlement (COEs) will be available during the six-month period from February to July this year. 

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Tuesday that it has set the quota at 19,263. 

That's slightly lower than the 19,351 made available between August 2012 and January 2013. 

For small cars, 667 COEs will be made available every month, down from 786 in the previous six-month period. 

For big cars, the quota is 605 per month - down from 701. 

The Open category will have a monthly quota of 476, down from 485 in the previous six-month period. 

For goods vehicles and buses, more COEs will be available - at 451, higher than the previous quota of 360 per month. 

The number of COEs available for motorcycles per month jumped to 1,012 - compared with 894 in the previous six-month period. 

On a monthly basis for all categories, 3,211 will be made available, compared with the previous quota of 3,226. 

Bidding under the new quota will start with the February 2013 First Open Bidding Exercise. 

The COE quota consists of several components: 0.5 per cent vehicle growth based on the vehicle population as at 31 December 2012, replacement COEs for vehicles de-registered between July and December 2012, adjustment for change in taxi population and expired COEs.