Vehicle registration plates of Singapore

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

Current scheme
Black on white (front) and black on yellow (rear) number plate scheme
A white on black number plate scheme
SKM 7444 H

In general, every motor vehicle in Singapore requires a vehicle registration number to be displayed at the front center (in almost all cases or otherwise set by car manufacturer due to bumper constraints) and rear of the vehicle. Two colour schemes are in use: the black-on-white (front of the vehicle) and black-on-yellow (rear) scheme, or the popular white-on-black scheme either represented in rectangular single line or squarish two line format. The number plate has to be made of a reflective plastic with flat characters or metallic with embossed characters which are black (for white-yellow), or white or silver (for black ones).

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. 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 (LTA).[1]

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.[2]

A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format Sxx #### y:

  • S – Vehicle class ("S", with some exceptions, stands for a private vehicle since 1984)
  • x – Alphabetical series ("I" and "O" are not used to avoid confusion with "1" and "0")
  • #### – Numerical series (from 1 to 9999, without leading zeroes)
  • y – Checksum letter ("F", "I", "N", "O", "Q", "V" and "W" are never used as checksum letters; absent on special government vehicle plates and events vehicle plates)

Types of numbers

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' (reserved for motorcycles), S 'H' and S 'Z' (reserved for taxis and buses), S 'D' (reserved for municipal vehicles), and S 'G' for goods vehicles large and small. There was no checksum letter, for example, S. When the checksum letter was implemented, these plate numbers were given checksum letters as well, for example SN9889 became SN9889U.

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 (A is for Perak, B is for Selangor, S is for Singapore/Sabah), 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.[3] 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 (i.e. bicycles and others alike) 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.[4][5]

Other classes of vehicles have registration numbers beginning with specific letters:

Series Vehicle class Example
A_ Motorcycles until mid-1980s
CB Company or school buses (discontinued in 1996)[6]
E_ Private vehicles from the early 1970s until the mid 1980s
F_
FB_		 Motorcycles (e.g., FA–FZ); used till late 2005. Second generation prefixes (e.g., FBA, FBB, and so on); started at the end of December 2005. The current prefix being issued is FBS.
G_
GB_		 Light Goods vehicles (class 3) (e.g., GA – GZ) till late 2006. Second generation prefixes (e.g., GBA onwards; introduced at the end of December 2006, after GZ. The current prefix being issued is GBK.
P_ Private operator buses (PA, PC, PD, PH, PZ were used to separate private buses, and so on, but later on all private hire buses were issued plates with PA, PC and so on). 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.[7] After a tax rationalisation in 1998 which did away with these benefits, company cars have been issued with standard number plates ever since.[8] The Q-prefix was used both standalone (e.g. QB 1 K) and as a prefix for, E, B and C-series plates (e.g. QEZ 6257 R, QBX 2223 K, QCK 6861 Z)[9]
S_ _ Private vehicles, also formal number plate series. The current prefix being issued is SMY. 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 (AIRBUS) 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 (e.g. buses under the Chinese bus companies and later, SBS from the 1960s to 1974, when new SBS numbers were issued specifically for SBS buses.)
TR_ Trailers. The current prefix being issued is TRD.
W_ Engineering plant vehicles (Class 5), some registered Jeeps and Rovers. The current prefix being issued is WD.
X_ Very heavy goods vehicles (Class 5/prime movers) not constructed to carry any load. The current prefix being issued is XE.
Y Heavy goods vehicles (class 3/4) which are constructed to carry load or passengers only. The current prefix being issued is YQ.
12345 Power-Assisted Bicycle (PAB) 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:

Pulau Ubin vehicle registration plate
SBS Transit bus registration plate scheme
Singapore Elected President
Emergency and law enforcement
Singapore police commissioner
  • CSS: City Shuttle Service buses (no longer issued: some re-registered under TIB series while the rest were deregistered.)
  • LTA: Land Transport Authority enforcement officers' vehicles.
  • MID: Singapore Armed Forces vehicles (this is a suffix with up to five digits before it, e.g., "12345 MID"). "MID" originally stood for the Ministry of Interior and Defence. General ranks in the armed forces are provided with staff cars with two-digit MID plates.
  • MP: Vehicles operated by the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command. (SAFPU plates were formerly used)
  • NZ: Vehicles of New Zealand diplomats and Installations Auxiliary Police Force (ANZUK).
  • PU: Tax-exempt, restricted for exclusive use with permission on the island of Pulau Ubin
  • QX: Emergency and law enforcement agencies (Singapore Police Force, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, etc.)
  • QY: Quasi-government agencies and statutory boards
  • RD: Research and development vehicles (such as electric, fuel-cell and smart car rental vehicles).
  • RU: Restricted Use vehicles, a special category for vehicles for which road taxes are not paid. A vehicle with such a licence is restricted for use within certain areas, for example a pushback truck within the grounds of Singapore Changi Airport or shuttle buses on Sentosa island and other southern islands of Singapore. When travelling out of the restricted boundaries, such vehicles are either required to be tagged with a trade-plate or towed.
  • S/CC: Vehicles of the Consular Corps
  • S/CD: Vehicles of the Diplomatic Corps
  • S/TE: "Technical employment" vehicles
  • S1 to S10: State cars used for ferrying official government guests and dignitaries
  • SBS: Buses operated by SBS Transit (from 1973) until Jan 2016. Currently also used by Tower Transit and Go-Ahead Singapore.
  • SDC: Buses operated by Sentosa Development Corporation (No longer issued, replaced by RU plates)
  • SEP: "Singapore Elected President" – the official state car of the President of the Republic of Singapore (SEP 1)
  • SG: Government-owned buses operated by contracted bus operators under Bus Contracting Model. Formerly assigned to goods vehicles, most goods vehicles were de-registered by 1998.
  • SJ: Supreme Court judges (the Chief Justice's car has the plate number "SJ 1").
  • SMB: Buses operated by SMRT Buses until Jan 2016, used in tandem with the TIB series. Used for buses registered after the merger of TIBS and SMRT in 2004. Currently also used by Tower Transit and SBS Transit.
  • SP: Speaker of Parliament (SP 1)
  • SPF: Commissioner of Police, Singapore Police Force (SPF 1)
  • STC: Buses operated by Singapore Traction Company. (All deregistered, operations ceased since 1971).
  • SZ/SZA: Older rental vehicles and chauffeur-driven private hire cars. Since the car tax rationalisation of 1998, private hire and rental cars have been issued with standard passenger vehicle prefixes.[8] Currently SZ prefixes are used on private boats/yachts with (a suffix with up to five digits after it with checksum).
  • TIB: Buses operated by SMRT Buses registered prior to the merger of Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) and SMRT from 1983 to 2004. The last of these buses were deregistered on January 2021.
  • TP: Motorcycles of the Traffic Police Department, Singapore Police Force.
  • LM: Lifting machines such as crane. i.e. (LM123456A) issued by the Ministry of Manpower.
  • C: Construction equipment i.e.(C12ABC).

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 (note that "S" is discarded); 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 (9, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2). These are added up, then divided by 19. The remainder corresponds to one of the 19 letters used (A, Z, Y, X, U, T, S, R, P, M, L, K, J, H, G, E, D, C, B), 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.

Checksum calculators, includes Andriod App download, Singapore Single Car Plate number checksum, for a more advance check sum which can tabulate 9999 number use ->Singapore ADVANCE Online Vehicle Checksum also Online calculator for the checksum 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:

  • SA: The SA sequence was never issued (the S-sequence in 1984 started with SBA), because the West Coast Division of Sabah state in Malaysia has been using the SA sequence.
  • SE, SI, SO and SU: When the SDZ series was exhausted in 2003, the SE series was skipped and the next plates issued was the SFA. LTA announced that it had adopted the policy of not issuing series with vowels in the middle of the three-letter prefixes. This was done to avoid forming objectionable word combinations such as "SEE" (resembles spelling of 'see'), "SEL" (resembles spelling of the word 'sell'), "SEX" (resembles spelling of 'sex'), "SEY" (resembles spelling of 'say'), "SIA" (resembles Singapore Airlines), "SIN" (resembles abbreviation of Singapore as well as 'sin') and "SUX" (resembles spelling of 'sucks').[12] After SGZ was exhausted in mid-2008, SJA was used next, since SH was already being used for taxis.
  • SKY: LTA has announced that since SKY also forms a meaningful word (sky), the SKY series will also be skipped[13] despite the middle letter being a consonant. SLY has also been skipped, and similar words such as SPA and SPY will likely also be skipped in the future.
  • FA, FE and FU: After FZ exhausted, FBA was issued and FA series are skipped for motorcycle. This was done to avoid forming objectionable word combinations such as "FAK" (resembles spelling of 'fuck') and "FAP" (resembles spelling of 'masturbating').
  • GA, GE and GU: After GZ exhaused, GBA was issued and GA series are skipped for Light Good Vehicle. This was done to avoid forming objectionable word combinations such as "GAY" (resembles spelling of 'gay').
  • SHE: SHE also forms a meaningful word (she), the SHE series also be skipped for taxi due despite the middle letter being a consonant.

Personalised registrations

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 sales of number plates that have significant digits (i.e., lucky numbers) or letter combinations like SGD.

Other colour schemes

Off-peak vehicles
SKV 6201 B
An offpeak white on red number plate

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 (COE) 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 (7:00 pm – 7:00 am) on weekdays, and the whole day on Saturday (Revised OPC scheme allows on whole Saturday, non-revised old OPC scheme vehicles must adhered to the old scheme restriction which is 7:00 am – 3:00 pm 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 (7:00 am – 7:00 pm).

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 (a discount of up to $500) 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 Classic vehicle numberplate
A Restricted Use vehicle
A hazardous cargo vehicle (implemented in 2005)

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 (flammables), 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 (tow head). 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" ("learner") plate beside their vehicle registration plates on both the front and back of the vehicle.

Examples of overlapping with Malaysian series:

'A' (Perak) - SG old motorcycles prefix

'C' (Pahang) - SG company buses (CB) and City Shuttle Service buses (CSS) prefixes

MY 'E' series prefix - SG old private cars prefix

'F' (Putrajaya) - SG motorcycles prefix

MY 'G' series prefix - SG Light Goods vehicles prefix

'M' (Malacca) - SG Military Police motorcycles (MP) prefix

'P' (Penang) - SG private buses (PA-PZ) and Pulau Ubin vehicles prefixes

'Q' (Sarawak) - SG old company cars (Q), Private ambulances (QXX) and Government vehicles (QX/QY) prefixes

MY 'R' series prefix - SG Restricted Use (RU) & Research and Development vehicles (RD) prefixes

'S' (Sabah) - SG older cars (SB, SK, SS, SQ, ST) prefixes

Sabah 'SMA-SMZ' - SG 'SMA-SMZ' & SMRT buses (SMB) prefixes

MY 'SMS' - SG 'SMS' prefix

'T' (Terengganu) - SG Traffic Police motorcycles (TP) & SMRT buses (TIB) prefixes

'W' (Kuala Lumpur) - SG Rover/Jeep & Engineering Plant vehicles prefix

MY 'X' series - SG Very Heavy Goods vehicles prefix

MY 'Y' series - SG Heavy Goods vehicles prefix

References
  1. "Standard Vehicle Registration and Vehicle Licence Plate Regulations". One Motoring.
  2. "This Continental touch can land you in trouble", The Straits Times, 22 February 2008.
  3. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19720119-1.2.62.aspx?
  4. "E-bike owners must register and install number plates starting August". Today. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  5. "Power-Assisted Bicycle (PAB) regulations".
  6. "One Motoring website for registering buses". One Motoring.
  7. International Master Tax Guide 2009/10. CCH Australia Limited. 2009. p. 1617. ISBN 9781921485800.
  8. "Q-plate, SZ, learner cars to be treated like normal carsQ-plate, SZ, learner cars to be treated like normal cars". Business Times. Singapore. 5 March 1998.
  9. SGP number plate prefix letters
  10. https://www.instagram.com/p/-_IWglsnmY/
  11. https://www.singapore-f1-grand-prix.com/en/
  12. "No SEX please on licence plates", The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 2002.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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