Types of car number plates in Singapore

In general, every motor vehicle in Singapore has a vehicle registration number.

A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format "SBA 1234 A":

• S – Vehicle class ("S", with some exceptions, stands for a private vehicle since 1984)
• BA – Alphabetical series ("I" and "O" are not used to avoid confusion with "1" and "0")
• 1234 – Numerical series
• A – 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)

License plates for private cars started with a single prefix 'S'. But it wasn't long before the growing car population imposed a need to increase a suffix letter after the 'S' - from 'SA' to 'SY' - with the exception of SH, which is reserved for taxis. After the single suffix was exhausted, private car plates began to start with a single 'E', running up to 'EZ' before the 'S' series took over again - this time round with two serial suffix letters, starting from 'SBA'.

  

• SBS         Buses operated by SBS Transit
• SEP         Short for Singapore Elected President, it is the official state car for the nation
• SMB       Buses operated by SMRT buses. Before the merger of SMRT and Trans Island Bus Service, the latter carried the prefix 'TIB'
•  SJ            Cars for Judges from the Supreme Court. SJ1 is used by the Chief of Justice
•  SPF         Car for the Commissioner of the Singapore Police Force
•  LTA         Bikes operated by the Enforcement Department of the Land Transport Authority
• MID       Vehicles operated by the Singapore Armed Forces. Up to five digits are used before this suffix
• MP         Vehicles operated by the Military Police Command from the Singapore Armed Forces
• PA, PB, PC, PH, PZ            These were used to separate private buses, private hire vehicles and so on, but later on all private hire vehicles were issued with PA plates
• PU          Vehicles that are tax exempted and used exclusively on the island of Pulau Ubin
• QX          Vehicles operated by emergency and law enforcement agencies, such as the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force
• RD          For cars used in Research and Development projects, such as fuel cell and electric cars
• RU          For Restricted Use vehicles that are exempted from road tax. These vehicles are only allowed within certain areas, such as motorised trams that are used to ferry visitors at the zoo
• S, ending with CD             Vehicles used by foreign diplomats
• TP           Bikes operated by the Traffic Police Department of the Singapore Police Force

 

 

Colour schemes

References :
http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/owning-a-vehicle/registering-your-vehicle/registration-of-cars.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Singapore
http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/writeup.php?AID=284
http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onemotoring/en/lta_information_guidelines/buy_a_new_vehicle/vehicle_licence_plate.html