Insights + interviews
Next-Generation ERP System Tender Awarded
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded the tender to develop the next generation Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system.
The partnership between LTA and the consortium – a partnership between NCS Pte Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System Asia Pte Ltd will develop the next-generation ERP system at a cost of S$556 million, which will be based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Technology.
The new system is expected to form a more competent replacement for the current gantry system, which is almost two decades old and likely to become an expensive maintenance in the long run. The existing ERP system has managed to put the island’s traffic congestion problems on check, and LTA is confident the new upgrade will allow more flexibility through a distance-based road pricing reference for traveling on congested roads. It is not certain how the payment process is going to line up eventually, but the LTA sees this as a fairer approach as compared to the outgoing system, putting an end to the obsolete physical gantries that offers less coverage of the intended chargeable areas.
Thinking ahead, LTA is also mulling over new policies for the off-peak car owners to allow users to pay for usage instead of the entire day. The national surveillance system will include the installation of a new On-Board Unit (OBU), a replacement for the existing In-Vehicle Unit (IU). The OBU will be the point of vehicular communication for the dissemination of important traffic advisories and can be counted upon to enable further services like payment of parking and checkpoint tolls.
Most importantly, as a road user, what you really need to know is that the new system will undergo an 18-months transition from 2020 onwards to be fully operational. The government will also bear the one-time IU replacement costs for Singapore-registered vehicles.
The premiums of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), weekend car scheme and vehicle road taxes are some of the concerns that will be tinkered by the new road pricing. It appears that the LTA might be taking a neoteric stance in leaning towards usage-inclined road pricing rather than static-based upkeeps. If that happens, we’ll probably see a dip in car prices, resulting in affordable car ownership and higher costs of travel. With the various anti-car movements shaping up in preceding years, private car usage has a close chance of hitting the high notes as the government continues to advocate for public transport and environmental issues.
