Re: Madness !!! Euphoria !!!
The govt has realized a little too late that the erp does not do a good job of controlling road usage. They fail to understand that demand for road use will be pretty inelastic given the high prices that people are already paying upfront for their cars. I feel that if the govt really wants to reduce COE and conjestion at the same time then there are only two things that they should do:
1) Reduce the overall population in Singapore by changing the immigration policy. Fewer people => lower demand for transportation
2) Reduce the maximum loan that people can take as a percentage of the car price (i.e., change it from 100% of the car price back to 70%, 50% or even 30%). The nice thing about this is that it willl also encourage financial prudence amongst car buyers.