The%20Electronic%20Road%20%20Pricing%20System

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International Symposium on Road Pricing 2003
Evaluation of Singapores Electronic Road
Pricing (ERP)System(1998 - present)A P G
Menon MSI Global Pte Ltd
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Singapore

• Area 650 sq km
• Road length 3800 km
• Vehicles 705,000
• Carpopulation ratio 1 10
• Modal split ( age) 6535 work trips
  5248 all trips
• Veh speeds 25-30 kph city 45-60 kph
  expressways

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Electronic Road Pricing

• Aim is to charge vehicles for the use of the road
  at times and at places of congestion
• For congestion management
• Not for raising revenue
• Every entry or pass under a control point is
  automatically charged a fee

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Number of Control points
City (7.2 sq. km) Expressways other major roads
ERP overhead gantries 28 (a cordon around the city) 14 congested locations
Operation hours 730 am - 700 pm on weekdays 730 am 930 am on weekdays
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ERP Gantry at control point
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Types of Invehicle Units (IU)

• Colour-coded for different types of vehicles
• Uses passenger car unit (pcu) for fixing charges
• Car 1 pcu, Motorcycle 0.5 pcu, Truck
  1.5 pcu , Bus 2 pcu

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CashCards (for payment)

• A pre-paid stored value ic chip card managed by a
  consortium of local banks

• Top-up cash at Automated Teller Machines and
  petrol stations

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ERP Control Centre

• 24-hour monitoring of street equipment
• Settlement of financial transactions with
  CashCard provider at end of each day
• Processing of violations and errors

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Simple Instructions for Motorists

• At start of journey, insert CashCard into the IU
  (fixed permanently and powered by vehicle
  battery). This does a health check of IU and
  CashCard .
• On going under the ERP gantries, the cash balance
  after ERP charge deduction is shown on IU display
  for 10 secs.

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How does ERP work?
Local Controller Housing
AVID Controller
Comms. Controller
Central Computer System
1st Antenna Controller
ECS Site Controller
Detector Controller
2nd Antenna Controller
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How does it work?
Local Controller Housing
AVID Controller
Comms. Controller
Central Computer System
Antenna Controller
ECS Site Controller
Detector Controller
Antenna Controller
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How does it work?
Local Controller Housing
AVID Controller
Comms. Controller
Central Computer System
Antenna Controller
ECS Site Controller
Detector Controller
Antenna Controller
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Choices offered by ERP

• Pay and enjoy good ride
• Change time to pay less/nothing
• Change route to non-priced roads
• Change mode
• Change destination
• Abandon trip

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Business Model

• Capital cost S197million
  (1998)
• Annual Operating cost S16m
• Annual Revenue S80m
• Manpower 30 staff for operations
• 35 dedicated staff for maintenance
• (US 1 S 1.76)

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Violations Errors

• Monthly ERP transactions 6 million
• Daily Violations - 5 per 1,000 transactions
• No IUs - Fine of S70
• No CashCards - Administrative Charge of S10
• Daily Errors - 5 per 10,000 transactions
• No fines. Motorists asked to have IUs inspected
  and CashCards checked
• A third are human errors
  

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Adjustment of ERP charges (in half-hour slots)

• Balance between congestion and usage
• Review charges at 3-monthly intervals
• From 50 cents to S3.00 per pass/entry

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Motorists Issues

• How reliable is technology?
• IU not sufficiently user-friendly
• Cap maximum ERP fee per day
• Request for centralised monthly bills (instead
  of paying each time)
• Exemption for motorcycles
• Do not extend coverage of ERP
• Tracking movements?

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Ramifications

• Better traffic flow with good speeds
• A shift towards public transport
• Motorcyclists affected more by price
• Rush at pre- and post-ERP periods
• Rush on non-priced alternative roads
• Loitering ahead of ERP gantries at fee
  change-over times

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Lessons

• Sell road pricing as a part of a total
  transportation package
• Use proven technology
• Make it simple and publicise
• Safeguards to prevent tracking
• Logical method to change rates
• Provide convenient alternatives
• Make provisions for foreign vehicles
• Road pricing is viable

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Thank you