Will COE prices always be high now?

The Straits Times shared a link.

COE prices to increase, more plans to curb vehicle growth ahead

www.straitstimes.com

The Government plans to further curb vehicle growth, given how Singapore has limited space for new roads, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew.

This is certainly one of those issues which one man's meat is another man's poison. No two ways about it until there is a breakthrough in transport technology and systems.

I have always chosen to live near an MRT station and didn't expect or assume to own a car. In the end, except for two years after getting married and setting up our own home, we have always had a car. It is very expensive but well worth it given the quality of life the car helps to support. I am sure many young families feel the same.

The previous transport minister wasn't very smart, but he helped me feel that the previous car was bought at a bargain given the low COE price he had helped engender. He wanted to be popular, but that was cheap populism and postponing misery to some day in the future when he is no longer in the job. This is a zero sum game. Now the new minister is tasked with making the bitter choices because every one has his or her idea of what is fair.

I bought a car two years ago when the COE was still low. May be this would be the last car. The kids are so grown up, the need for a car is much less now. May be money in the pocket and using it to grow more money will be more satisfying than paying up for car. Also, I have found driving here an increasingly unpleasant experience. The roads are so congested with many impatient drivers. We also have to share the lanes with cyclists who assume they can impose their foreign culture here. When everyone is insistent on their 'legitimate' rights, nobody has any rights left.

Well I thought I wouldn't own a car before and I was wrong. Would I be wrong once more? I wouldn't discount them acting stupidly again and making it irresistible and so affordable to own a car.

As long as the band plays, we will dance. When the music stop, we must quit. It is so simple isn't it? Eventually you will forget about dancing. Those who resist will be like those who spend a fortune to look youthful even as they fight a losing battle with age. We will always have such people with us.