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In 2017, the COE was also above $8,000, and Mr. Heng decided that increasing the ARF for motorcycles would get the COE down so that smaller bikes which are used for delivery would be more affordable.
It did go down a little, and in 2021, the time where the economy is not doing so well, some people who have lost their jobs are turning to food delivery, and the high ARF and COE makes a motorcycle that cost less than $7,000 in 2014 now cost more than $12,000.
Even if you do not ride a motorcycle, the high cost of COE and ARF of motorcycles — an essential form of transportation — is going to cause an increase in the cost of logistics, and eventually a lot of other costs.
During the time when the economy is much better, when motorcycle COE is above $8,000, the government actually took action to try to reduce the COE costs, I wonder if anything would be done in April as we are facing a much worse situation currently.