COE Watch
Tools

Car vs Public Transport: Break-Even Calculator

Updated 25 Oct 2026 COE Watch Editorial Team
Short answer

A car only pays off beyond a certain monthly mileage. This tool compares your car's monthly cost (fixed plus per-km) against transit or ride-hailing and finds the break-even distance. In an illustrative case the car wins above roughly 2,000 km a month.

On this page4 sections · tap to jump
  1. 01How it is calculated
  2. 02Worked example (illustrative)
  3. 03Limits of this estimate
  4. 04Related guides

Decide whether a car is worth it for your usage: enter what a car would cost you and what you’d otherwise spend on transport, and see the break-even distance.

Tool

Car vs public transport break-even

Depreciation, insurance, road tax, parking, loan.
Fuel or charging plus maintenance.
A transit pass, or 0 if none.
Your effective ride-hailing / transit rate.
Car / month$1,800
Alternative / month$1,000

At 1,000 km/month the alternative is cheaper by $800.

Break-even: about 2,000 km/month — drive more than that and the car wins.

Based on Your own figures (car costs vs transport spend). As of 25 October 2026. Estimate only. Every figure here is yours to set — the defaults are illustrative, not official prices.

How it is calculated

Both options split into a fixed monthly cost and a cost per kilometre:

  • Car: fixed = depreciation + insurance + road tax + parking + any loan; per-km = fuel or charging + maintenance.
  • Alternative: fixed = a transit pass if you buy one (else 0); per-km = your effective ride-hailing or per-trip transit rate.

Monthly car cost is fixed_car + perKm_car × km, and the alternative is fixed_alt + perKm_alt × km. Setting them equal gives the break-even distance:

break-even km = (fixed_car − fixed_alt) ÷ (perKm_alt − perKm_car)

Below that distance the alternative is cheaper; above it, the car is. If the car’s per-km cost is higher than the alternative’s, there is no break-even — the car only ever makes sense for reasons other than cost.

Worked example (illustrative)

Say a car costs S$1,600/month fixed and S$0.20/km to run, versus S$0/month and S$1.00/km for ride-hailing. Break-even is S$1,600 ÷ (S$1.00 − S$0.20) = 2,000 km/month. At 1,000 km the alternative is cheaper (S$1,000 vs S$1,800); at 2,500 km the car wins (S$2,100 vs S$2,500). All figures are illustrative — enter your own.

Limits of this estimate

  • It is only as good as your inputs; the defaults are not official prices and will not fit everyone.
  • It ignores non-cost factors — time, convenience, carrying loads, late-night trips, kids.
  • Depreciation is the hardest number to estimate; use the true cost of owning a car to ground it.
  • Public transport fares are set by the authorities and change; confirm current fares with LTA.

Sources

  1. Public transport in Singapore (fares and modes) — Land Transport Authority (as of October 2026)
  2. COE bidding results dataset (car-cost context) — Land Transport Authority (data.gov.sg) (as of 25 October 2026)