{"id":8119,"date":"2021-08-05T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/?p=8119"},"modified":"2021-07-30T17:38:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T09:38:56","slug":"car-licence-plates-the-inside-scoop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/car-licence-plates-the-inside-scoop\/","title":{"rendered":"Car Licence Plates: The Inside Scoop"},"content":{"rendered":"
Uncovering the meaning behind the different types of licence plates and numbers in Singapore.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"\"There\u2019s one thing that makes our cars unique \u2014 and that\u2019s the licence plate number. Just like our NRIC number, each registered car will be given a specified number plate. For a small country like ours, we sure do have a startlingly wide range of plate types. Some of you may wonder what each of these plate types means.<\/p>\n

Licence plates have a variety of prefixes and suffixes. The very first prefix, introduced way back in 1906, existed as a single letter \u2018S\u2019, which, back in the day, stood for \u2018Singapore\u2019. This was followed by a suffix that ranged from \u2018B\u2019 to \u2018Y\u2019; the letter \u2018A\u2019 was reserved for motorcycles until the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n

As more cars were introduced, the \u2018S\u2019 was accompanied by another prefix, which ranged from \u2018B\u2019 to \u2018Y\u2019. Following that was the era of the \u2018E\u2019 prefix, which started in 1972, a little too early for younger drivers to remember. The current and more recognisable system of three-letter prefixes of the \u2018S\u2019 series had its beginnings in 1984.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nMAKING IT OFFICIAL<\/strong>
\nWhile private cars take up the majority of licence plates here, there are a few combinations that are specially reserved for state use. The official state car for the President sports a \u2018SEP\u2019 plate, which is an abbreviation for \u2018Singapore Elected President\u2019. \u2018SJ\u2019 prefixed cars are reserved for Supreme Court judges, with \u2018SJ1\u2019 assigned to the Chief Justice. The Commissioner of Police is assigned a \u2018SPF1\u2019 number plate.<\/p>\n

An interesting and wise decision by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to skip vowels for the middle prefix letter meant that we\u2019ve never seen controversial three-letter words on car licence plates! Back in 2003, LTA decided to skip the \u2018SE\u2019 series after \u2018SDZ\u2019 ended, and went ahead with \u2018SF\u2019 instead. Likewise, \u2018SI\u2019 was skipped; in future, so will \u2018SO\u2019 and \u2018SU\u2019.<\/p>\n

For business-related vehicles there are a few specific prefixes that define their business type. \u2018Q\u2019 was used for company-registered vehicles up until 1998 for business tax purposes, but since then they have been issued standard plates. Private bus operators all sport the \u2018P\u2019 series, while taxis and street hire vehicles, like sightseeing buses, all have the \u2018SH\u2019 series. Goods vehicles, if classified as heavy, have \u2018Y\u2019 as a prefix; if classified very heavy, they get an \u2018X\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nEXTRA SPECIAL <\/strong>
\nLTA also issues temporary plates for special events \u2014 these have special letters linked to the event. The ASEAN Summit in 2018 had \u2018ASN\u2019-plated vehicles ferrying delegates to and from summit venues. The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics used \u2018YOG\u2019 plates, while official Singapore Airshow vehicles had plates that spelt out \u2018AIRSHOW\u2019!<\/p>\n

Another way LTA categorises vehicles is by colour. Most of us are aware of the colour plates of private and off-peak cars, but there are plates in other colours that are seldom seen.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nResearch and Development vehicles with \u2018RD\u2019 plates have a top yellow and bottom blue diagonally coloured background. Restricted Use vehicles with \u2018R\u2019 prefixes have a top red and bottom green diagonally coloured background. If you have a vintage or classic car, you would have a plate that has two horizontal strips, red on top and yellow at the bottom.<\/p>\n

As Singapore rethinks the transport infrastructure to include electric vehicles \u2014 from cars and buses to bicycles \u2014 we may yet see the vehicle licensing system and design undergo more changes to add to the interesting history of the humble licence plate.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uncovering the meaning behind the different types of licence plates and numbers in Singapore. There\u2019s one thing that makes our cars unique \u2014 and that\u2019s the licence plate number. Just like our NRIC number, each registered car will be given a specified number plate. For a small country like ours, we sure do have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1523,6727,6726,6725,6724,5153,6718,6729,6721,6719,6731,6722,6728,6720,6730,6723,6733,6734,6732],"class_list":{"0":"post-8119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-insight","8":"tag-aa-highway","9":"tag-business-tax-purposes","10":"tag-business-related-vehicles","11":"tag-chief-justice","12":"tag-commissioner-of-police","13":"tag-land-transport-authority-lta","14":"tag-licence-plates-and-numbers","15":"tag-official-singapore-airshow-vehicles","16":"tag-plate-types-means","17":"tag-registered-car","18":"tag-research-and-development-vehicles","19":"tag-singapore-elected-president","20":"tag-special-events","21":"tag-specified-number-plate","22":"tag-summer-youth-olympics","23":"tag-supreme-court-judges","24":"tag-transport-infrastructure","25":"tag-vehicle-licensing-system-and-design","26":"tag-vintage-or-classic-car"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8125,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8119\/revisions\/8125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/aa-highway.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}