Saturday, January 9, 2010

Revised OPC

I have said before that when it comes to cars, Singaporeans would throw their brains out of the window. To prove my point again, here comes the revised Off-Peak Car Scheme (OPC).

Under the revised OPC scheme, OPC cars will be allowed to start driving on the whole Saturday, and no longer need to wait till 3pm. OPC owners can’t wait till 25th Jan to start registering for the new scheme.

Hold your horses people because the extra timing comes with a catch; you have to pay a higher road tax (RT) to drive your car. Currently, RT for OPC comes with a $800 discount per year, minimum payment of $50. Under the revised OPC scheme, this discount will be cut to $500, minimum payment of $70. So no matter what, you will be paying more under the new scheme.

Before any of you OPC owners scoffed at the $70 RT, note that it is the “minimum payment of $70”. Your new RT payment will most likely be more than that. For example if you have a 1600cc car, your RT per year ought be to $744 but if your car is an OPC, the RT is only $50 as you have a $800 discount on the RT. Under the new revised OPC, your RT payment will be $244 because the RT discount has been cut!

An extra $200 per year just for driving a few more hours on Saturday? Frankly I don’t think it’s worth it.

6 comments:

Sofian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I wander how the TP, usually on motorbikes, are to copy the OPC car plate number with his hands still on the bike handle in order to check if OPC car has permit to drive for the weekday at the end of the day. It is open to cheating, i reckon.

Ghost said...

It's better than the old coupons scheme. Then the officers need to catch up to the vehicle, stop them and then check if they have day coupon. Now they can copy down vehicle no. even from a distance and just check online

Mustafa said...

@Anonymous: cameras? perhaps not the roaming TP officer, but the numerous cameras mounted everywhere.

Ghost said...

I think the new eday scheme is better as it is more difficult for OPC owners to avoid the $20. The new revised OPC scheme however isn't for the better.

Anonymous said...

This is just the setup.

Once they install satellite ERP (rumoured to be implemented after this coming election) in your vehicle, your vehicle can be tracked anytime, anywhere in Sg.

So under the new OPC scheme, they'll know exactly when and where you used your vehicle so remember to pay up promptly.