The Transport Bureau (DSAT) has decided to issue vehicle registration plates starting with “AA” after the vehicle registration plates starting with “MZ” have been used up, according to a report by the Chinese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM Sunday.
The city’s vehicle registration plates are marked with an “M” plus a letter of the Western alphabet – or simply an “M” with no any other letter, followed by four Arabic numerals. Vehicle registration plates are issued in alphabetical order – with “M” and then “MA” the earliest and “MY” issued recently for non-motorcycle vehicles, except in the situation where the vehicle owners buy vehicle registration plates with special numbers (also always four digits) arranged by the government.
The issuing of registration plates for motorcycles is separate from the issuing of registration plates for all the other vehicles.
Non-motorcycle vehicle registration plates starting with “MV” were not issued by the government after the issuing of vehicle registration plates starting with “MU”, due to confusion between “MV” and “MU” potentially affecting law enforcement and other government entities.
According to the report, the bureau told TDM that vehicle registration plates with a second Western alphabet letter after the “M” letter were expected to be used up in 12 months to 15 months, based on the current rate of the increase in the number of newly-registered non-motorcycle vehicles.
The bureau also said that consequently non-motorcycle vehicle registration plates with “MY” and “MZ” were expected to be used up after 2020, adding it had decided to issue non-motorcycle vehicle registration plates starting with “AA” after registration plates beginning with “MZ” have been used up in the future.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said in the legislature early this month there had been no increase in the number of vehicles (motorcycles and all the other vehicles) – i.e. the difference between newly-registered vehicles and vehicles whose registrations have been cancelled, compared with four years ago when he took office.
According to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the number of registered vehicles in Macau stood at 238,591 in October – comprising 107,542 light vehicles, 7,190 heavy vehicles, 26,425 light motorcycles, 97,028 heavy motorcycles, and 406 industrial vehicles.
According to the Statistics and Census Bureau, the number of registered vehicles stood at 240,107 at the end of 2014.
