Vehicle registration plates in Singapore are administered and issued by the Land Transport Authority. All vehicles in Singapore are required to display front and back plates bearing its registration number.

Purchasers of vehicles and current vehicle owners have the option to bid for a vehicle registration number, retain a registration number from an existing vehicle or get an automatically assigned vehicle registration number on the day of the vehicle's registration.

Vehicle registration numbers can be retained on new or old vehicles owned by the same person, with a validity of 1 year and with extensions of 6 months thereafter, with proper documentations and fees paid for bidding or number retention.

Formats The following are examples of the formats currently used on commonly seen vehicle types;

Type of number plate Layout Private and commercial vehicles S – Vehicle class ("S _ _", with some exceptions such as plates starting with "E _", prefix reserved for private vehicles since 1984) Taxis & Cross Border Private Omnibuses SH_ or SH are prefixes used by taxis and a small number of omnibuses operated by Singapore-Johore Express bearing the same prefix. Motorcycles F – Vehicle class ("F _ _ ", or "F _", with some exceptions such as plates starting with A were the earliest series for motorcycles, prefix reserved for motorcycles) Light Goods vehicles G – Vehicle class ("G _ _", with some exceptions such as plates starting with "G _", prefix reserved for this class since 1970s) Omnibuses operated by public bus operators under the Bus Contracting Model (BCM) SG or formerly "SBS", "SMB" or the now-defunct "TIB", are prefixes reserved for use by Government-owned omnibuses operated by public bus operators under the Bus Contracting Model (BCM).Company or school busesCB – These buses are exempted from having a valid Certificate of Entitlement (COE), such prefix are not issued today.Private buses, private hire buses and excursion busesP – Vehicle class ("P _", Buses with Certificates of Entitlement (COE) issued before 1 April 1998 were issued registration numbers beginning with either the PB, PH or PZ prefix depending on the registration scheme of the bus whilst buses with Certificates of Entitlement (COE) issued on or after 1 April 1998 were issued unified registration numbers regardless of the registration scheme of the bus.)Engineering Plant vehicles W – Vehicle class ("W _", Class 5, some registered Jeeps and Rovers.) Heavy Goods vehicles Y – Vehicle class ("Y _", Class 3/4 which are constructed to carry load or passengers only.) Very Heavy Goods vehicles X – Vehicle class ("X _", Class 5/prime movers not constructed to carry any load.) Trailers T – Vehicle class ("TR _", Trailers towed by very heavy goods vehicles.)Emergency QX– Vehicle class are prefixes used by Emergency vehicles and law enforcement agencies.Law enforcement TP & LTA – Vehicle class are prefixes used by Traffic Police and Land Transport AuthorityMilitary MID - Singapore Armed Forces vehicles (this is a suffix with up to five digits before it, e.g., "12345 MID").

A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format S_ _ #### _:

S – Vehicle class ("S", with some exceptions, stands for a private vehicle since 1984) _ – Alphabetical series ("I" and "O" are not used to avoid confusion with "1" and "0") #### – Numerical series (from 1 to 9999, without leading zeroes) _ – 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)

Current scheme

In general, every motor vehicle in Singapore requires a vehicle registration number to be displayed at the front center (in almost all cases or otherwise set by car manufacturer due to bumper constraints) and rear of the vehicle. Two colour schemes are in use: white font on black scheme that is standard on cars and motorcycles from dealerships, or the Euro white/yellow (on front and rear) scheme.

These plates are either represented in rectangular single line or squarish two line format. The number plate must 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).

Although no standardised typeface is used, typefaces are based on the Charles Wright number plate typeface that was and is still used in the UK. Rarely, the Arial Bold font based on the Malaysian plate format or FE-Schrift font based on the Euro plate format (EU circle of stars and 'D' country code), used in Germany can be seen – though the use of these fonts is prohibited by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

For motorists who would be attaching a bicycle rack of which the vehicle licence plate would be blocked at the rear of a vehicle, or any other fittings that obstructs the view of the number plate, motorists are required to hang an additional licence plate prominently at the rear of the vehicle..

Types of numbers 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. There was no checksum letter, for example, S. When the checksum letter was implemented, these plate numbers were given checksum letters as well, for example SG5999 became SG5999Z.

When 'S' was exhausted at SY, in January 1972, private cars started with E and Land Transport Authority begin to create separate vehicle categories according type of vehicles. Previously all vehicles in Singapore had to bear the prefix S due to previous standardization with Peninsular Malaysia according to geographical location (A is for Perak, B is for Selangor, S is for Singapore/Sabah), motorbikes with A and goods vehicles under 3 tonnes with Y. E was followed by EA, EB with the letters EC in 1973 up to EZ. E was chosen then as letters A-D were already in used by other states in Malaysia.

From 1984, the "S" series of number plates was launched again after EZ, but now with two serial suffix letters, starting from SBA, although several prefixes were skipped as they are reserved, such as SBS and SMB for omnibuses registered under public bus operators SBS Transit and SMRT Buses respectively. The SG-prefix was subsequently revived in November 2015 for government-owned omnibuses operated by contracted public bus operators under the LTA's Bus Contracting Model.

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 2017 and 31 January 2018 and install number plates, with sealing and registration to be done by the individual. Since then, if the unregistered PAB already has an LTA orange seal, a registration is only needed. Alternatively, if a registered PAB is bought from a retailer, only a transfer the registration to the individual's name is needed. Registration for PAB with blue seal has ceased as of 2018.

Since January 2019, the Land Transport Authority announced that electric scooter owners would also have to register their personal mobility vehicles between 2 January 2019 and 30 July 2019. A registered e-scooter must have a LTA Registration Mark and an Identification Mark (which bears the unique registration number assigned to the e-scooter) affixed. However, non-UL2272 certified vehicles were automatically deregistered on 1 July 2020.

Other classes of vehicles have registration numbers beginning with specific letters:

SeriesVehicle classExample S, S_, E_, S_ _Private vehicles. SB – SY were the earliest series, issued till 1971. EA - EZ from the 1972 until 1984. SBA began since 1984, the first 3-letter prefix combination. Also for vehicles registered to Government agencies on or after 2019-04-01, except for Emergency and law enforcement agencies. The current prefix being issued is SPM.

Except SA, SD, SG, SH, SZ, SBS, SCB, SCC, SCD, SCS, SCT, SDC, SH_, SKY, SLY, SMB, SPA, SPF, SPY, STC, STE. Vowels 'A', 'E', 'U' are not used in the middle letter in 3-letter combination.SH, SH_ (except SHE, SHY)Taxis and omnibuses operated by Singapore-Johore Express. The current prefix being issued is SHF. SH was also previously used for former SBS buses operating Sentosa and Airport services (AIRBUS), Singapore Explorer Trolley – City Sightseeing buses and public buses that were not operated by the Singapore Traction Company (e.g. buses under the Chinese bus companies and later, SBS from the 1960s to 1974, when new SBS-prefixed registration numbers were issued specifically for SBS buses.)A_, SA, F_, F_ _Motorcycles. Plates starting with A were the earliest series for motorcycles, and are still valid. FA–FZ series were issued until they were exhausted in late 2005. FBA, the first 3-letter prefix combination began at the end of December 2005. The current prefix being issued is FBZ.

Vowels 'A', 'E', 'U' are not used in the middle letter in 3-letter combination.G_, G_ _, SG (old)Light Goods vehicles (class 3).

GA-GZ till late 2006. GBA onwards were introduced at the end of December 2006. The current prefix being issued is GBN.

Vowels 'A', 'E', 'U' are not used in the middle letter in 3-letter combination.

SG prefix series were used until early 1970s for all goods vehicles regardless of class. SG-prefixed goods vehicles were de-registered by 1998. Now used on government-owned public buses, see "SG (modern day)" below.SG (modern day)Government-owned omnibuses operated by contracted public bus operators under the Bus Contracting Model.

Previously SG-prefixed plates were issued until the early 1970s to goods vehicles of any class, and have been deregistered since 1998.Y_Heavy goods vehicles (class 3/4) which are constructed to carry load or passengers only. The current prefix being issued is YS.X_Very heavy goods vehicles (Class 5/prime movers) not constructed to carry any load. The current prefix being issued is XF.W_ (except WE)Engineering plant vehicles (Class 5), some registered Jeeps and Rovers. The current prefix being issued is WF. Vowels are not used in the middle letter in 3-letter combination to avoid words like "WE" is skipped as it forms the English word (We)P_ (except PU)Private buses, private hire buses and excursion buses Buses with Certificates of Entitlement (COE) issued before 1 April 1998 were issued registration numbers beginning with either the PB, PH or PZ prefix depending on the registration scheme of the bus whilst buses with Certificates of Entitlement (COE) issued on or after 1 April 1998 were issued unified registration numbers beginning with PA prefixes regardless of the registration scheme of the bus. The current prefix being issued is PD with previously issued prefixes being PA and PC.