Rejected by ST Forum
Weekend Car Conversion Date
The Editor, Forum Page, Straits Times
The difference between weekend car owners and off-peak car owners is that weekend car owners are still waiting for the announcement that weekend cars will be converted to normal cars for free.
The Weekend Car Scheme was implemented nine years ago in May 91. In Jan 91, Dr Yeo Ning Hong, then Minister for Communications and Information, announced that the weekend car system will give way to the ERP system in 1996. This was reiterated by Mr Mah Bow Tan, then Minister of State for Communications, in Mar 91 when he said the Weekend Car Scheme will be incorporated into the ERP system when this is operational sometime in the mid-1990s.
In Sep 94, in closing a self-created loophole, LTA announced that the Weekend Car Scheme would be replaced by a new Off-Peak Car Scheme. Existing weekend car owners were given a three-year grace period, from 1 Oct 94 to 30 Sep 97, to convert their cars to normal cars by paying a top-up charge. Those who do not convert by 30 Sep 97 will remain as weekend cars until ERP is implemented island-wide beyond 2000, after which it will be automatically converted to normal cars. Note the qualifier 'island-wide', which has been added retrospectively.
In Jan 96, Mr Zainal Abidin Ibrahim, representing LTA in a letter to ST Forum assured weekend car owners that they will have their cars "automatically converted to normal cars, at no cost, when ERP is implemented island-wide". However, as Sep 97 drew near, LTA still did not announce the date for ERP implementation island-wide. Weekend car owners were left wondering if they should pay the conversion fee or wait and hope that LTA will implement the conversion date soon. ERP was finally implemented on 1 Sep 98. There were more queries from the public. In Mar 99, replying to such queries in ST Forum, Ms Toh Su Fen, Dy Dir, Corporate Communications, LTA, repeated the standard reply that weekend cars will not be converted to normal car until the ERP is implemented island-wide. But no firm date was announced.
It is already May 2000. The first of weekend car owners will see their weekend car COE expiring in May 2001. Furthermore all weekend car COEs will expire by Sep 2004. Will any weekend car owner ever get a chance to convert their weekend car to normal car at no cost? If not, has the LTA been leading us on all this while? The LTA owes weekend car owners an explanation, and the announcement of a conversion date for weekend cars.
Tan Boon Kim William