In an interview of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums, SMU Assistant Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship (Education) Terence Fan noted that Singapore's limited land also constraints road space - an issue the Government can do little to change. However, he highlighted that the government heavily subsidies a world-class public transport system that meets most commuters' needs. Asst Prof Fan explained that high COE premiums are part of Singapore's trade-offs, where people either pay car ownership or face other costs like expensive parking. He added that COE prices are not always extremely high, but their impact on the overall cost of living is clear. The exclusion of private transport from Singapore's core inflation measure, he said, is also telling of how such costs are treated.
