Lam’s reply came after lawmaker Nixie Lam Lam asked when the allocation of ordinary license plates will be exhausted and how the allocation mechanism of ordinary license plates will operate by then.

Under the existing allocation system, the Transport Department assigns a registered vehicle the letter prefix from “AA” to “ZZ” in ascending alphabetical order, followed by numerals that are randomly selected and allocated by the computer system.

The transport chief then said the department was allocating the license plates starting with the letter prefix “YN” as of the end of March 2023.

Lam Sai-hung added that about three million license plates had been returned to the department but have yet to be reallocated to any vehicles.

“Based on the current rate of allocation, it is projected that such number of license plates is sufficient to meet the demand for not less than 20 years in the future,” he said.

After all license plates of the “ZZ” series are allocated, the department will begin the allocation of license plates returned to the government and available for reallocation, starting from the “WA” series in reverse alphabetical order.

That means the allocation will begin with the “WA” to “WZ” series, followed by the “VA” to “VZ” series, and then the “UA” to “UZ” series, and so on.

“As such arrangement follows the existing format of license plates without changing their combination pattern, there will be no need for legislative amendment, nor will it require significant modification of the computer system, thereby avoiding impact on stakeholders,” the transport chief noted.