All about our Electronic Road Pricing System (ERP)

[FieryGiX]

Hi fellow motorist,

 

I am starting this thread to discuss all about our love-hate relationship with the infamous "ERP" system.

 

Traffic congestion is now a phenomenum no only limited to our tiny country's CBD but also rapidly spreading to every corner, every housing estate.

 

Lower cost of vehicle ownership through falling COE prices and road tax rebate are causing a massive growth in vehicle ownership with some families owning 2 cars per household.

 

In layman terms, there are so many cars on the roads that traffic congestion will be literally "everywhere", i.e HDB estates, Shopping centres

 

With more congestion, LTA have more excuse to erect more ERP gantries claiming to help ease congestion in the vincinity.

 

However, all that does nothing to solve the fundamental issue of vehicle growth which causes these congestion in the first place.

 

On a side note, given the wheelbase of an average motorcycle (excluding Goldwing), I do not believe a motorcycle contribute significantly to traffic congestion and hence I believe ERP or any congestion reducing system should not apply to motorcycle.

 

In my opinion, to solve these congestion issues, the government should:

 

1.Curb vehicle ownership (Increase COE, increase road tax)

2.Improve public transport (Frequent trips, seating capacity)

[MiCmAsTa]

ERP is to ease conjestion. And if motorist choose to take an alternative road instead, then they will cause a conjestion on the alternative road. Then Gahment have another good reason to install another of their "High Tech" device. Why? Cause the road is too conjested and they want to "Help" motorist to ease the traffic and those who really need to use the road then LL have to pay the $$$.

 

Next time once you get out of your house have to pay ERP liao.

[redbeacon]

And to add on to this with regards to payment collection, it's either you have a cashcard with at least a few dollars to spare, or you have no cashcard but have at least $10 in cash. Effective way of managing payment alongside simple traffic management.

 

Now, where's my cashcard and my hard earned $9.00+? My wallet so sad already

[DM]

instead of setting up erp gantries at every single damned street and carpark outlet, they might as well save the money on construction and implement $100k road tax for all vehicles instead?

[xiaobanz]

Hai~ The gantries are here to stay.. So what can we do, only Pay And Pay..

[jB]

[E]veryday [R]obbing [P]eople is no good hope the new generation + those who can vote on the next election do something about it

[humblerider]

[E]veryday [R]obbing [P]eople is no good hope the new generation + those who can vote on the next election do something about it

 

Woah... this is getting political! Umm... that just depends which political party rules in the next election then... I'm waiting to see...

[gnid]

lol. the result is too obvious.

[Izammo]

we never know what these political party have in plan. maybe worst? haha.

[hitman]

On a side note, given the wheelbase of an average motorcycle (excluding Goldwing), I do not believe a motorcycle contribute significantly to traffic congestion and hence I believe ERP or any congestion reducing system should not apply to motorcycle.

 

agree. but the thing is tt motorcycle is already paying a lower rate as compare to cars.

[antartica]

well anyone who's been on the roads regularly will be able to tell you that just before each gantry, all cars especially will slow down, check price, check cash card value and even stop to look for cash card!!!

 

my buddy nearly kissed a cars backside whilst riding his Pan Euro, going up to ECP from Beach Road, stupid driver jam brake couple of meters before the gantry and he very closely avoided colliding with him and was lucky the right lane was free for him to swerve in and when he drove past the bloody idiot was searching for his damn cash card!!!

 

since they wanna install these things better install cameras to catch these idiots too

[FieryGiX]

It's actually a vicious cycle with no end.

 

Cheaper cars = more cars

More cars = more congestion

More congestion = more ERP

 

Government justify themselves by claiming that the ERP revenue is offset by road tax rebates and lower COE prices.

 

ERP started in September 1998,

COE QP for

Total car population (Dec 1998) = 375,217

 

Now in September 2008,

COE QP for

Estimated Total car population (Sep 2008) = 800,000

 

I do not know the exact Math involved but seems like the government made more $$$ selling cheap cars and collecting "ongoing" ERP charges than charging a high COE price.

 

Maybe we should demand the Ministry of Transport or LTA to reveal its accounts on ERP revenue. Who know it could be raking in millions or billion in profit.

[xiaobanz]

The gov uses ERP and the increasing exp transport system to earn money.. But to think of it, our transport system is consider cheap as compared to the other developed countries like europe and US.

[jB]

Woah... this is getting political! Umm... that just depends which political party rules in the next election then... I'm waiting to see...

haha sorry, taking it quite personal

 

we never know what these political party have in plan. maybe worst? haha.

Hope for the best, else we'll suffer another 4 years under the wrong control

[biting_point]

never experienced the AURA of bright light and after it, you lose money..

the timings were also super extended to weekends and late evenings..

 

if you need to be on the road, you pay..

else take public..

[Yongster]

During the National Day Rally, this issue was covered and elaborated by our PM and it was said that the govt is trying to make everyone in Singapore fulfill the dream of owning a car.. thus the lowering of COE..... bt higher ERP is to ease traffic congestion due to high traffic volume......

 

What is the use of owning a car if I need to worry abt the constant beeping of my IU unit whenever I pass a gantry and looking helplessly at the declining of the value in my cashcard?

 

So does that mean that everyone can easily own a car but when u wana drive your car, be prepared to pay more?? so it is easier to fulfill an expensive dream??

 

It is also said that more time spend with family and lesser time on the road equate to better well-being of individuals....... I dun see how I can spend more time with my family when ERP on CTE ends only at 1030pm.... Mayb get my family to take a train to my office and spend time with mi until 1030pm???......But does more financial charges and lesser money to spend also equate to better well-being??

 

It is understandable when ERP is only restricted to CBD and busy business town areas.... But at housing estates?? I fail to see the rationale in that.......

[Yatz86]

hm kindda like u can own a car but plz keep it at home...

[B.e.n.s.o.n]

hmmm... dun know weather or not...

 

Have u guys ever think of wat did the garment had done with the money collected from our ERP? Juz imagine, juz imagine one day's collected money could hit almost a 10 yrs salary of a security guard.... wat had they done, a part from buy more new ERP gantry????

[ghost04]

ERP shouldnt apply to bikes in the 1st place...

ease congestions?? its the high number of cars tat r causing congestions.

since when will bikes contributes to congestion besides the checkpoints??

stupid system.

[Arcfire]

I'd rather have no way of owning a car than have to squeeze past tons of cars to get to work in the morning.

At the very least i know i have less variable costs to take care of.

 

Plus the fact that if you own a car but don't drive it, you still have to pay parking charges and take up space. Which in turn leads to shortage of parking space which means prices will go up for parking charges. All in all its a lose lose situation for any middle income family which is owned by a car.

[Nighthawk_250]

ahh ERP the logic is very simple.

 

Anyone can write a artificial intelligence program code for it

 

- Take the five busiest road in Spore, Put ERP

 

-When vehicle take alternative road to avoid ERP,

 

-Find the next 5 busiest road in spore, put ERP

 

Repeat and loop until -->

 

All roads got ERP

[MS]

During the National Day Rally, this issue was covered and elaborated by our PM and it was said that the govt is trying to make everyone in Singapore fulfill the dream of owning a car.. thus the lowering of COE..... bt higher ERP is to ease traffic congestion due to high traffic volume......

 

What is the use of owning a car if I need to worry abt the constant beeping of my IU unit whenever I pass a gantry and looking helplessly at the declining of the value in my cashcard?

 

So does that mean that everyone can easily own a car but when u wana drive your car, be prepared to pay more?? so it is easier to fulfill an expensive dream??

 

It is also said that more time spend with family and lesser time on the road equate to better well-being of individuals....... I dun see how I can spend more time with my family when ERP on CTE ends only at 1030pm.... Mayb get my family to take a train to my office and spend time with mi until 1030pm???......But does more financial charges and lesser money to spend also equate to better well-being??

 

It is understandable when ERP is only restricted to CBD and busy business town areas.... But at housing estates?? I fail to see the rationale in that.......

 

 

I see you don't buy the story of our PM Lee.

Our intellegence is emanating in this internet age. No longer are the peasants surpressed to accept every doctrine the ruling coalition want the mass to believe.

Thailand ousted their PM with a military coup & Malaysia threw out many members of the BN with the recent poll. Perhaps the neighbours' successes are an inspiration for our belittled peasants to start planning for a change in the political atmosphere.

[Constructicon]

Nowadays, everyone wants to buy a car, be it whether you can really afford it or not. You can't blame the $0 deposit or the 10 year loan.

 

With each car, the govt earns first from COE, then yearly road tax, then daily carpark and ERP. We got like 539,540 cars now. (From LTA). Do the math.

With this huge lump of $$$ being earned, wats the incentive NOT to put ERP?

For people who have to use the road with ERP, they are just L-L. Complain all they want, just pay anyway.

No one forced them to buy cars anyway.

 

What irks me people complaining about ERP, car park, petrol...etc. Cannot afford car, dun buy!

Vehicle ownership is never cheap in Sg, be it now or 10 yrs back.

The reality is that in Singapore for the vast majority, the car pwn() you, not you own the car.

 

Is the ERP working? We got stats like "speed up by 5% or 5 km/hr."

But the reality is it's jammed here, jammed there everywhere. Unless you put a $50 per entry on ERP, then you will see a difference. The problem is there's just too many cars on the road in the first place. You place a $2 entry ERP fee but most people L-L have to bypass and pay anyway. Wats the diff? You still got 90% of the car in the area.

 

Dun get me started on the taxi problem. Increase this and that, but when you need a cab, there's none.

[MS]

Nowadays, everyone wants to buy a car, be it whether you can really afford it or not. You can't blame the $0 deposit or the 10 year loan.

 

With each car, the govt earns first from COE, then yearly road tax, then daily carpark and ERP. We got like 539,540 cars now. (From LTA). Do the math.

With this huge lump of $$$ being earned, wats the incentive NOT to put ERP?

For people who have to use the road with ERP, they are just L-L. Complain all they want, just pay anyway.

No one forced them to buy cars anyway.

 

What irks me people complaining about ERP, car park, petrol...etc. Cannot afford car, dun buy!

Vehicle ownership is never cheap in Sg, be it now or 10 yrs back.

The reality is that in Singapore for the vast majority, the car pwn() you, not you own the car.

 

Is the ERP working? We got stats like "speed up by 5% or 5 km/hr."

But the reality is it's jammed here, jammed there everywhere. Unless you put a $50 per entry on ERP, then you will see a difference. The problem is there's just too many cars on the road in the first place. You place a $2 entry ERP fee but most people L-L have to bypass and pay anyway. Wats the diff? You still got 90% of the car in the area.

 

Dun get me started on the taxi problem. Increase this and that, but when you need a cab, there's none.

 

I foresee a great political climate shift imminent in the next election. This time even with the underhanded tactics played by PAP in the previous election by stirring up the James Gomez case and threatening with housing upgrading.

[Constructicon]

I foresee a great political climate shift imminent in the next election. This time even with the underhanded tactics played by PAP in the previous election by stirring up the James Gomez case and threatening with housing upgrading.

 

General public's memories are usually short. It's works to dump a few $$$ to the people to sweeten the image, afterall who doesn't like $$$? But sometimes we forgot these are our $$$ afterall.

 

I sometimes wonder if the policies and schemes are started with the intention of helping the man-in-the-streets in the first place.

 

There's this phrase that struck me while I was watching this move some time back.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. "

It's from V for Vendetta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film)

 

What pisses me off if that if Guy 'A' votes for Govt A, then quit the complaints already! And I see the majority of people voted for Govt A and it is a vote of saying yes to the various policies, ERP lah, foreign talent lah...etc. Well if you are the Guy 'A', shut up already!