Motorists may be charged for the distance they drive, and not only at fixed points, under a next-generation Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system being studied by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
If implemented, the new ERP system — whose working name is ERP2 — will be “fairer and more equitable” to motorists, said Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew yesterday.
He said: “ERP2 will give us the option of charging for congestion based on distance, and not only at discrete points. This will be fairer and more equitable to motorists as the charges will be proportional to the distance they travel on a congested road, in other words, proportional to how much they actually contribute to the congestion.”
Motorists driving the same vehicle type passing under an ERP gantry now pay the same rate, regardless of their distance travelled.
Under the new system, some motorists may pay more while others will pay less, depending on the distance they travel on the congested road, Mr Lui said.
The Transport Minister, however, stressed that the new system is still “several more years” from being rolled out. If it does, it will start off only on roads currently priced by the ERP system, and that it will continue to be used as a “congestion management tool” to be used “only where and when there is congestion”, he added.
ERP2 will not, he assured, be something that “charges the minute (motorists) leave home or start their engines” and drivers will “generally have the same paying experience”.
Mr Lui also noted privacy issues expressed by some Singaporeans and stressed that the Government would “safeguard the confidentiality of motorists”, such as by anonymising any data collected and developing privacy safeguards.
The new system, which uses global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technology, works with an On-Board Unit (OBU), which will replace the existing In-Vehicle Unit (IU). The OBU will link up with the satellite systems to check how far a vehicle travels along ERP-active roads. This would detect if drivers use only 50m or 500m, and charge accordingly.
“As it makes do without large physical gantries, it will allow us to respond faster and more effectively to tackle congestion, and is also likely to be cheaper over its life cycle compared to the current system,” said Mr Lui.
Highlighting Singapore’s land constraints, the Transport Minister said during his visit to the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) yesterday that “it is unlikely that we will be able to build many more massive projects like the MCE”.
“Given the constraints to building more roads, we will need to rely even more on vehicle ownership and usage restraint measures to manage traffic congestion,” he said, but stressed that the Government will “take a balanced approach”. Public and stakeholder views will be welcomed, he added.
Singapore was the first country in the world to implement congestion pricing in 1974, and has served as a model for places such as London and Stockholm.
Experts welcomed the potential move, as they felt that distance-based systems to be one of the fairest in terms of addressing traffic congestion. Adjunct Associate Professor Gopinath Menon of Nanyang Technological University’s Infrastructure Systems and Maritime Studies noted there are three types of possible pricing systems to choose from — location, time and distance-based, of which the current ERP utilises the first.
Assoc Prof Menon, who was previously LTA’s Chief Transportation Engineer, pointed to how GNSS technology is used on Germany’s autobahns, the country’s national motorway. The key difference, he said, being autobahns is “toll-based”, while Singapore’s ERP system is “congestion-based”.
While a GNSS-based ERP system may face challenges here — such as losing satellite signals when driving underground or through high-rise buildings — these “can be overcome”, said Assoc Prof Menon.
Beacons could be embedded on lamp posts to help correct the signal, said Associate Professor Lee Der Horng of the National University of Singapore Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who noted that accuracy in urban areas “is the major limitation” to the system.
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There you go, it is really happening; a GPS based ERP system, but only a few more years down the road. Let's not let this news cloud the main news of the Marine Coastal Expressway opening its roads by this year end. I for one can't wait to travel in it and skip the jam plus hassle of going up the Sheares Bridge just to get to AYE from KPE.
This should be able to relief some traffic volume on the ECP along the stretch of road and less cars will be using the Rochor exit now that the MCE provides an alternative exit to the Marina City area.
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