Vehicle registration plates of Singapore


Vehicle registration plates in Singapore are administered by the Land Transport Authority.

Current scheme



In general, every motor vehicle in Singapore has a vehicle registration number. Two colour schemes are in use: the black-on-white and black-on-yellow scheme, or the popular white-on-black scheme. The number plate has to be made of a reflective plastic or metallic with textured characters which are black, or white or silver. Although no standardised typeface is used, all typefaces are based on the Charles Wright number plate typeface that was and is still used in the UK. Thinner-looking variants are commonly used by SBS Transit buses, taxis and goods vehicles. Rarely, the Arial Bold or FE-Schrift font used in Germany can be seen – though the use of these fonts is prohibited by the Land Transport Authority. Also worthy of note is that if the vehicle licence plate is blocked by bicycles or has a bicycle rack attached at the rear of a vehicle, or any other fittings such as wedding decorations that obstructs the view of the number plate, motorists must hang an additional licence plate on the vehicle.
A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format Sxx #### y:
Private car licence plate numbers began in the early 1900s when Singapore was one of the four Straits Settlements, with a single prefix S for denoting Singapore, then adding a suffix letter S 'B' to S 'Y' for cars, but skipping a few like S 'A', S 'H' and S 'Z', S 'D', and S 'G' for goods vehicles large and small. There was no checksum letter, for example, SG5999. When the checksum letter was implemented, these plate numbers were given checksum letters as well, for example SG5999 became SG5999Z.
When 'S' was exhausted at SY, in January 1972, private cars started with E and Land Transport Authority begin to create separate vehicle categories according type of vehicles which previously all vehicles in Singapore must bear prefix S due to previous standardization with Peninsular Malaysia according to geographical location, motorbikes with A and goods vehicles under 3 tonnes with Y. E was followed by EA, EB with the letters EC in 1973 up to EZ. E was chosen then as letters A-D were already in used by other states in Malaysia. From 1984, the "S" series of number plates was launched again after EZ, but now with two serial suffix letters, starting from SBA, although with several prefixes being skipped as they are reserved, such as SBS and SMB, as they were used for buses that belong to public transport operators. However under the Bus Contracting Model which was later implemented, bus operators under Bus Contracting Model utilise the SG prefix for all public buses.
Since August 2017, the Land Transport Authority announced that electric bicycle owners will have to register their personal mobility vehicles between Aug 14 and Jan 31, 2018 and install number plates, with sealing and registration to be done by the individual. Since then, if the unregistered PAB already has an LTA orange seal, a registration is only needed. Alternatively, if a registered PAB is bought from a retailer, only a transfer the registration to the individual's name is needed.
Other classes of vehicles have registration numbers beginning with specific letters:
SeriesVehicle classExample-
A_Motorcycles until mid-1980s-
CBCompany or school buses -
E_Private vehicles from the early 1970s until the mid 1980s-
F_
FB_		Motorcycles ; used till late 2005. Second generation prefixes ; started at the end of December 2005. The current prefix being issued is FBR.
G_
GB_		Light Goods vehicles till late 2006. Second generation prefixes.jpg|150px
P_Private operator buses. The current prefix being issued is PD.-
Q_ _Once issued to company-registered vehicles. Expenses incurred in the use of these cars were tax-deductible, though the road tax payable was twice that of a private car. After a tax rationalisation in 1998 which did away with these benefits, company cars have been issued with standard number plates ever since. The Q-prefix was used both standalone and as a prefix for, E, B and C-series plates -
S_ _Private vehicles, also formal number plate series. The current prefix being issued is SMT, while the SMU series is available for bidding. Older vintage series with two letter prefixes conflict with some Sabah series.-
SH_Taxis or street hire vehicles such as Singapore-Johore Express, former SBS buses operating Sentosa and Airport services and Singapore Explorer Trolley - City Sightseeing buses. The current prefix being issued is SHF.
SH was also previously used for public buses that were not operated by the Singapore Traction Company 		-
TR_Trailers. The current prefix being issued is TRD.-
W_Engineering plant vehicles, some registered Jeeps and Rovers. The current prefix being issued is WD.-
X_Very heavy goods vehicles not constructed to carry any load. The current prefix being issued is XE.-
YHeavy goods vehicles which are constructed to carry load or passengers only. The current prefix being issued is YQ.-
12345Power-Assisted Bicycle number plate with a maximum of 5 digits. Registration is mandatory in order to be used.-

Other specific vehicle types

In addition, the following are controlled for specific types of vehicles, including:
Special prefixes were used for specific events, such as:
They are neither used after the events nor sold for to the public, but unofficial series for cosmetic purposes.
Civil Mobilisation Exercise or Vehicle Recalls have a large A3/A2 sticker stuck at the rear and front of the vehicle denoted that the vehicle is being mobilised or deployed for civil emergency exercises. These usually happen during weekends.

Checksum

The checksum letter is calculated by converting the letters into numbers, i.e., where A=1 and Z=26, potentially giving seven individual numbers from each registration plate. However, only two letters of the prefix are used in the checksum. For a three-letter prefix, only the last two letters are used; for a two-letter prefix, both letters are used; for a single letter prefix, the single letter corresponds to the second position, with the first position as 0. For numerals less than four digits, additional zeroes are added in front as placeholders, for example "1" is "0001". SBS 3229 would therefore give 2, 19, 3, 2, 2 and 9 ; E 12 would give 0, 5, 0, 0, 1 and 2. SS 108 would be given as 19, 19, 0, 1, 0, 8.
Each individual number is then multiplied by 6 fixed numbers. These are added up, then divided by 19. The remainder corresponds to one of the 19 letters used, with "A" corresponding to a remainder of 0, "Z" corresponding to 1, "Y" corresponding to 2 and so on. In the case of SBS 3229, the final letter should be a P; for E 23, the final letter should be a H.
SS 11 back letter should be a T. The letters F, I, N, O, Q, V and W are not used as checksum letters.
Unofficial checksum calculators, including and can be found online.
Checksum suffix letters are not applied to special government vehicles and event vehicles.

Prefix exceptions

LTA has introduced policies where certain series of licence plate prefixes are deliberately skipped for various reasons. The policies include:
To date, vanity plates or such a scheme has not been introduced, as it would further encourage the use of private vehicles which contradicts the efforts by the state in discouraging the usage of private vehicles.
For now, there is a thriving trade in the sale of number plates that have significant digits or letter combinations like SGD.

Other colour schemes

Off-peak vehicles



Vehicles registered as "Off-peak Vehicles", colloquially known as "weekend cars" or red plate, pay a cheaper road tax compared to ordinary private cars, although the usual Certificate of Entitlement charges apply. Off-peak vehicles display number plates with white characters on a red background. These vehicles are only allowed to run on the roads in Singapore after peak hours on weekdays, and the whole day on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. The restriction are not applied if the vehicle are outside from Singapore and entered in Malaysia on restricted hour weekdays.
If owners of off-peak vehicles wish to drive on weekdays during restricted hours, they are required to buy an e-licence for $20 either online or through major post offices. Car owners have up to 24 hours on the following day to purchase the e-licence. First-time offenders may be fined up to $5,000 for failing to display a valid day coupon or using an invalid day coupon, and up to $10,000 for using an altered day coupon when their vehicles are used during the restricted hours.
Off-peak vehicles pay a relatively lower road tax as compared to other private vehicles, and are also given rebate of $17,000 which can be offset against the COE and ARF. Usually dependent on each motorist usage on a daily basis, a majority of the people in Singapore do not use off-peak vehicles due to current COE prices and are not beneficial for cars above 1600cc. Off-peak vehicles are popular among cars below 1600cc and during low COE prices.

Other categories

A "Restricted Use" vehicle displays a registration plate with white letters on a diagonally bisected background, the upper half of which is red and the lower half emerald green. The two lead characters of the plate are "RU".
A "Classic Car" collector's vehicle has an ordinary registration number but with white lettering on a half-red, half-yellow background, with a seal affixed on the number plate by an authorised inspection centre.
"Hazardous Cargo" plates were introduced in 2005, using normal commercial vehicle registrations, often in the 'Y' code, but with, unusually, black figures on a reflective orange background. These trucks are permitted to carry fuel, gas canisters and chemicals, and are neither permitted to enter tunnels nor city areas unless route arrangements have been made in advance with the fire services. Malaysian lorries are also required to have a separate HAZMAT orange licence plate affixed to both the trailer and wagon. Such vehicles are subject to the same rules as Singapore-registered hazardous cargo vehicles.
"Research and Development" vehicles display a half-yellow, half-blue plate with the prefix "RD".
Motor dealers and traders use white on blue plates using the suffix "S", preceded by up to four numerals for their test drive vehicles.
Driving instructors teaching students in Singapore must display an "L" plate beside their vehicle registration plates on both the front and back of the vehicle.