Vehicle registration plates of Bhutan
Vehicle license plates in Bhutan are issued and regulated by the Road Safety and Transport Authority of The Royal Government of Bhutan.[1] Until 1990, vehicle registration plates had a group of three letters on the left, indicating the region and class of registration, followed by 4 digit numeric value. For example, BWP 1001 signified, Western region, Private vehicle with number 1001. Now however, this scheme has been discontinued for the newer licensing scheme launched in 1990.[2]
The current format is XX-N-X0000, where,
- XX is the type (BP/BT/BG)
- N is the area code from 1 to 4,
- Western Bhutan
- Central Bhutan
- Southern Bhutan
- Eastern Bhutan
- X is a letter from A-Z, and
- XXXX is the vehicle number.
Types of registration plate
Private
![](../I/m/License_plate_Bhutan_private._(BP_Bhutan_Private).jpg)
The current license plate for private vehicles in Bhutan is composed of letters and digits in the BP-N-ANNNN format. The letters are written in white on a Red license plate. The first two letters for private vehicles are BP This is followed by a digit signifying the region in which the vehicle is registered. Then a letter from A-Z is followed by four digits running in sequence like 1234. So for example a car registered in Thimphu could have the number BP-1-A1234.
Taxi
![](../I/m/License_plate_Bhutan_taxi.jpg)
The current license plate for Taxi vehicles are written by black on yellow in very similar format to that or private vehicle except that the first two characters are BT. The regional digit remains the same.
Government vehicles
![](../I/m/License_plate_Bhutan_government.jpg)
The Royal Government of Bhutan vehicles in Bhutan use a red license plate with the letters written in yellow. The first two characters of the plate are BG, followed by the same sequence as in case of private vehicles.
Police
![](../I/m/License_plate_Bhutan_police.jpg)
The Royal Bhutan Police vehicles in Bhutan use a blue license plate with the letters written in white. The first three characters of the plate are RBP, followed by four digits of vehicle number.
Royal Bodyguard vehicles
![](../I/m/BHUTAN_Royal_Bhutanese_Guard_1970's_-_Flickr_-_woody1778a.jpg)
The Royal Bodyguard of Bhutan vehicles in Bhutan use different license plates with the letters written in white with black, orange and yellow background. The first three characters of the plate are RBG, followed by four digits of vehicle number.