SINGAPORE — As a way of “compensating people for taking public transport”, revenues collected from Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) could be used to “subsidise public transport fares” and make public transport more efficient.

This was a suggestion raised by transport economist Anthony Chin on the first episode of the second season of VoicesTODAY, with the topic How do you fix the COE system?, which aired on MediaCorp’s Channel 5 last night.

Associate Professor Chin said his suggestion could curb rising COE premiums and address the issue of Singaporeans’ increasing demand to own a car due to their poor perception of the public transport system.

His suggestion was a response to callers’ proposals for a more equitable COE system, such as categorising COEs according to income and necessity, and penalising those who own more than one car.

The Land Transport Authority is currently studying ways to make the vehicle quota system more socially equitable, with a focus on the small car category (1,600cc and below) and surcharges for multiple car ownership.

Since the topic of the episode was revealed, interest in it generated more than 60 letters to TODAY in three days and many tweets and Facebook posts.

Some callers to the show suggested that COEs be extended to 15 years, up from the current 10. But Assoc Prof Chin felt this would not address the congestion problem on the roads. Others proposed that car buyers be restricted to paying for their COEs in cash, while some suggested a pay-as-you-bid system.

Google Hangouts participants Raymond Ng and Leonard Loo, meanwhile, suggested car dealers be barred from participating in the COE bidding exercise, arguing that they drive up premiums. Car buyers want to pay less for a car, but dealers would pay more to get a COE so they can sell the car. “So there’s this misalignment of motives,” Mr Loo said.

Among other suggestions raised on the programme: Categorising COEs according to the Open Market Value and the horsepower of vehicles, rather than engine capacity, as it is currently.

The first episode will be shown again tomorrow at 5.30pm, with a one-hour extended encore which includes discussions that continued off-air.