Electronic Road Pricing The Singapore way

Eddie Lim Sing Loong Land Transport Authority Singapore

Early 70s...

Singapore
23 km

42 km

CBD

Land Area Road Eway

: 680 km2 : 3,100 km : 150 km

Population : 4.2 million

Facts and Figures

Total Daily Trips : 7.7 million By Bus By MRT By Taxi By Private Car : 3.0 million : 1.0 million : 0.9 million : 2.8 million 37% 63% 100%

Target: 75% by public transport

LTAs White Paper (1996)

Multi-pronged strategy

Integrate transport & land use planning Manage Supply - Expand road network & Enhance capacity Manage Demand - Ownership & Usage of vehicles Provide alternatives - Improve public transport

Road Pricing in Singapore

Area License Scheme

Manual road pricing introduced in Central Business District (CBD) since 1975 High manpower needs, inconvenient, limited in varying road pricing charges

Road Pricing - ALS

Road Pricing - ALS

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)

Automated with ERP system

Implemented in September 1998

Number of ERP Gantries

As of 1 September 1998: 33 (27 in CBD; 6 along ORR) 45 (28 in CBD; 17 along ORR) 46 (the first evening charging gantry at northbound CTE) 48 (an Orchard cordon with operating hours from noon to 8pm, Mondays to Saturdays)

Before 1 August 2005:

As of 1 August 2005:

From 3 October 2005:

ERP Operating hours

CBD Gantries
Operational hours
19 7:30 am to 7:00 pm

Expressways Orchard & ORR* Cordon

18 7:30 am to 9:30 am & 6pm to 8pm for northbound 11 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm
(Including Saturdays)

* Outer Ring Roads

Ro a d P ric in g (C a rs )

7: 30am 8: 00am 8: 00am 8: 30am 8: 30am 9: 00am 9: 00am 9: 30am 9: 30am 10: 00am 10: 00am -12: 00pm 12: 00pm -1230pm 12: 30pm -5: 30pm 5: 30pm 6: 00pm 6: 00pm 6: 30pm 6: 30pm 7: 00pm

Road Pricing Charges

Varies by vehicle type Varies by location of gantry Varies by time of day

$0.00

$0.50

$1.00

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

$3.00

ALS

ERP

Adjustment of ERP Rates

To ensure optimal use of road space Reviewed every 3 months Expressways
45 kph Increase 65 kph Decrease

Increase 20 kph

Decrease 30 kph

Other Roads

Impact - Traffic Volume (CBD)

200000

-7.6 %
150000

100000

-7.2 %
50000

ALS ERP

+28 %

0
Morning (2 hours) Off-Peak (7.5 hours) Evening (2 hours)

Operations Statistics
Transactions (about 280,000 per day) Violations
No In-vehicle Unit (IU)
- Fine of S$70

No CashCards or Insufficient value in card

- Manual payment: Administrative Charge of $10 - ePayment: Administrative Charge of $8 - Payment via SMS: Administrative Charge of $4

Our Technologies...

Components of ERP System

In-vehicle Unit (IU) and CashCard Equipment on ERP gantry Central Computer System

Types of IUs
Different types for different categories of vehicles - allow different road pricing charges for different categories

Types of IUs
Vehicle Type Cars Motorcycles Lorries/Buses Big Lorries/Buses Passenger Car Unit (PCU) 1.0 0.5 1.5 2.0

CashCards
A smart card marketed by consortium of local banks for multiple uses. Top-up at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), petrol stations and other outlets.

Simple for Motorists

At start of journey, insert CashCard into IU. This initiates checking process to ascertain that IU and CashCard are working. On going through ERP gantries, deduction is made and balance displayed. At end of journey, remove CashCard.

Components of ERP System

In-vehicle Unit (IU) and CashCard Equipment on ERP gantry Central Computer System

ERP Gantry

 Antennae

Gantry Equipment

 Antennae Vehicle Detectors

Gantry Equipment

 Antennae Vehicle Detectors Enforcement Cameras

Gantry Equipment

How does it work?

Central Computer System Comms. Controller Antenna Controller AVID Controller ECS Site Controller Local Controller Housing Detector Antenna Controller Controller

How does it work?

Central Computer System Comms. Controller Antenna Controller AVID Controller ECS Site Controller Local Controller Housing Detector Antenna Controller Controller

How does it work?

Central Computer System Comms. Controller Antenna Controller AVID Controller ECS Site Controller Local Controller Housing Detector Antenna Controller Controller

Night Charging

Components of ERP System

In-vehicle Unit (IU) and CashCard Equipment on ERP gantry Central Computer System

Central Computer System

Central Computer System

24-hour operations to ensure ERP gantries are working properly. Monitoring of equipment. Processing of financial transactions. Processing of violation images.

Our Preparations...

Preparing for ERP

Policy Changes
Vehicle tax changes - lower rates Vehicle tax rebates Reducing impact for commercial vehicles

Fitting of In-vehicle Units (IU) Publicity Testing for Motorists

IU Fitting Programme
All vehicle owners given opportunity to fit IUs over 10-month period from Sep 97. IU fitting free-of-charge if fitted within allocated time period. Overall, more than 97% of 680,000 vehicles fitted with IUs.

Publicity
Special ERP hot-lines. Brochures sent to vehicle owners.

Testing for Motorists

ERP system switched on 4 weeks ahead of start-date for motorists to try out system. Road Pricing charges zero-rated.

Checking of IUs
Motorists able to check and rectify IU problems at specially set-up locations.

Electronic Parking Systems

Electronic Parking System (EPS)

Using ERP technology for car park applications

Electronic Parking System (EPS)

EPS Antenna

ERP IU

Speed-Flow Curve (Example)

65 kph 45 kph

WHY ROAD PRICING?

Road space is a scarce resource. Pricing is an effective mechanism to optimise the usage of road space. Pricing allows externalities to be factored into the decisions of motorists.

ERP CONTRACT
Tender specifications drawn up in early 90s with much consultations. Contract awarded in Oct 95 to international consortium comprising

Philips Singapore Pte Ltd Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd Miyoshi Electronics Corporation CSE Systems & Engineering Pte Ltd

Contract cost : S$197m.

SYSTEM RELIABILITY
Tested over more than 5 million transactions at test site before implementation on roads. High Reliability of RF communication > 99.999%.

COMPONENTS OF ERP SYSTEM

Central Computer System EAS EMS
Leased Leased Lines Lines

ESS

SC SC Digital Acceptor Digital Acceptor Unit Unit

RF RF

AVID
-wave -wave RF RF System System

Enforcement
VPD VPD System System ECS ECS System System

In-vehicle Unit

ERP Outstation