Cash incentive to encourage deregistration of older motorcycles

SINGAPORE — To cut air pollution and meet air quality targets for 2020, motorcyclists will be given a cash incentive of up to S$3,500 to deregister their older, more pollutive vehicles over the next five years, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Friday (April 6).

Motorcyclists who registered their vehicles before July 1, 2003 will receive S$2,000 if they deregister them on or before April 5, 2023, said the NEA in a press release.

If the motorcycle’s Certificate of Entitlement is not renewed on or after 7 April 2018, the owner will receive an additional S$1,500 upon its de-registration. The owner will also receive a rebate for the unused COE period, upon its de-registration.

Around 27,000 motorcycles aged 15 years old or older will meet the criteria for the incentive.

Motorcycle owners holding five-year non-renewable COEs, as well as those on Classic, Vintage (Restricted), and Revised Vintage vehicle schemes as of April 6 will not be eligible.

“The new initiative addresses the large contribution to air pollution by motorcycles,” said the NEA, adding that while motorcycles make up 15 per cent of the local vehicle population, they contribute around 50 per cent of carbon monoxide (CO) from vehicles.

The agency added that older motorcycles are also more pollutive. “Those registered before July 1, 2003 (i.e. before the introduction of Euro I emission standards for motorcycles) emit up to about 10 times more CO and 30 times more hydrocarbons compared to a Euro IV motorcycle today,” it said.

Such older motorcycles make up around 20 per cent of Singapore’s motorcycle population, but account for about 40 per cent of CO emitted by motorcycles.

Speaking to reporters at Vicom vehicle inspection centre on Friday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said the cash incentive may have an “immediate impact” on COE prices.

“But because we are giving at least five years for people to make a decision to cash in on de-registering their motorcycles… We think this would even out the impact,” he said.

Owners of motorcycles registered before July 1, 2003 will receive a letter from NEA by end-April to inform them if they are eligible for the incentive.

Separately, the NEA and the ministry will also tighten in-use emission standards for older motorbikes from April 6, 2023, before they are phased out after June 30, 2028. More details will be shared later.

Motorcycles on the Classic, Vintage (Restricted) and Revised Vintage Vehicle Schemes are exempted as they are already subject to restricted usage.

Motorcycle owners said the NEA’s move would hit their pockets and called for the authorities to tackle pollution by foreign-registered vehicles here.

A civil servant who wanted to be known as Mr Nor, 30, said he was dismayed by the move to phase out these older motorbikes by 2028.

The owner of a 1979 Vespa scooter said cash incentives “do not appeal to him” because of the “sentimental value and memories” attached to his ride, which he bought with his first paycheck from a friend in 2012 for about S$2,500.

Mr Nor said he would wait for more details on the tightened in-use emission standards from April 6, 2023, before deciding whether to renew the COE on his Vespa, which has about two years left on its COE.

Buying a new bike would cost at least four times more, which would defeat the purpose of “cutting down on transport costs”, he said.

In the “worst case scenario”, Mr Nor said he would deregister the motorcycle and reassemble the parts into an armchair.

Another motorcyclist who wanted to be known as Mr Wee, 48, said the move would leave him “with no choice” but to fork out a hefty sum to even switch to a second-hand motorbike, given the high motorcycle COE premiums. Some could be “forced to give their motorbikes up and take up public transport”, he said.

Mr Norman Lee, honorary general secretary of the Singapore Motor Cycle Trade Association, welcomed the new incentive scheme but hoped that after 2028, “iconic and legendary” motorcycle models which currently do not qualify for the Classic and Vintage Schemes would be considered for conservation in Singapore.

Mr Lee felt it was unfair that emission requirements do not apply to some 45,000 foreign-registered motorcycles that enter Singapore on a daily basis.

TODAY understands the NEA is looking at measures to curb pollution by foreign motorbikes.

Other Government schemes to tackle air pollution by vehicles include the Vehicular Emissions Scheme and the Early Turnover Scheme for commercial vehicles.

Tighter exhaust emission standards for petrol vehicles and motorcycles also took effect from April 1, with CO limits lowered for newer petrol vehicles and motorcycles, and hydrocarbon limits introduced for all petrol vehicles and most motorcycles.