Vehicle registration plates of Singapore

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

[1] All vehicles in Singapore are required to display front and back plates bearing its registration number.

The number plate has to be made of a reflective plastic with flat characters or metal based with bolded or embossed characters which are black (for Euro white-yellow), while white or silver are used (for black based).

[4] A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format Sxx #### y: 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' (reserved for taxis), S 'D' (reserved for municipal vehicles), and S 'G' for goods vehicles large and small.

[5] 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.

Since August 2017, the Land Transport Authority announced that electric bicycle (also known as Power-Assisted Bicycle) owners would have to register their personal mobility vehicles between 14 August and 31 January 2018 and install number plates, with sealing and registration to be done by the individual.

Alternatively, if a registered PAB is bought from a retailer, only a transfer the registration to the individual's name is needed.

LTA has introduced policies where certain series of licence plate prefixes are deliberately skipped for various reasons.

[24] Off-peak vehicles display number plates with white characters on a red background and are held with a tamper seal at the corner, bolted onto the bumper beam frame or the trunk itself.

For owners of off-peak vehicles who 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.

Off-peak vehicles are popular among cars below 1600cc due to lower road tax rebates.

These vehicles enjoy rebates on road tax and the registration of Certificate of Entitlement (COE).

"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.

Malaysian lorries are also required to have a separate HAZMAT orange licence plate affixed to both the trailer and wagon (tow head).

Motor dealers and traders use white on blue plates using the suffix "S", preceded by up to four numerals for their test drive vehicles.