Fun fact: Did you know that the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries are around in Singapore for close to two decades?
On 25 Feb, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that have granted the tender to develop the next-generation ERP system to the consortium of NCS Pte Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System Asia Pte Ltd.
What could be more advanced than our current ERP gantries that suck the money out of our cashcards?
Here are the information you need regarding the new ERP system!
The consortium of NCS Pte Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System Asia Pte Ltd won the bid for $556 million.
Despite ST Electronics casting a bid for $1.26 billion, Channel NewsAsia reported that the LTA deems the S$556-million contract to be of excellent quality albeit the low bid price.
That’s because the new ERP system is now a satellite and no longer a gantry.
Channel NewsAsia uploaded a video of how the next-generation ERP system works:
Basically it is still the same concept — your money will still virtually disappear every time you drive on certain roads.
Except this time you can’t see the towering ERP gantry anymore and you might accidentally drive on these designated roads!
The current gantry now charges a fixed price, regardless of the distance travelled.
With the next-generation ERP gantry, it will be fair as motorists will be charged according to the distance travelled on these congested roads.
According to Channel NewsAsia, LTA said there will not be a fixed time where the distance-based pricing will take place during the 18 month transition period and until then, the policy charges will remain the same.
However, this would mean a remarkably higher ERP charges for road users who travel far distances – like taxi drivers, deliverymen and bus operators.
Vehicles can now have interactive and smart on-board units (OBU) installed after the new-generation ERP system is implemented.
What’s more, the OBU looks like a smartphone!
The new unit provided by the government informs the user real-time traffic information adjusted to their location, electronic payment for parking fees and automatic payment for offpeak drivers who are on the road during peak periods.
This means motorists no longer have to use paper parking coupons!
The government will also provide a free one-time IU replacement for Singapore-registered vehicles.
Since the OBU are able to give live real-time traffic information, it means that the satellite is able to track the exact location of vehicles.
In other words, motorists have to sacrifice their privacy as the government’s new toy will be able to track every single vehicle.
Now, does all the value-added services the OBU provides outweigh the drivers’ privacy?
Car drivers who are not driving during the peak hours might enjoy new policies in which they will only have to pay for short periods instead of the whole day.
If the roads are not congested, they might not have to pay as well.
By 2020, the new system would be expected to be in place of the current ERP gantry which the LTA said to be costly and an inefficient use of land space.
What the LTA did not say is that we will be losing our privacy as well.
To ensure a smooth change over to the next-generation system, there will be an 18-month adjustment period where the current gantry system will be in session with the new system.
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Featured image via Wikipedia
With reference to LTA Press Release, Channel NewsAsia, LTA Press Release
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