The Electronic Road Pricing System

1
International Symposium on Road Pricing 2003
Evaluation of Singapores Electronic Road
Pricing (ERP)System(1998 - present)A P G
Menon MSI Global Pte Ltd
2
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

3
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

4
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
5
ERP Gantry at control point
6
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

7
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

8
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

9
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.

10
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
11
How does it work?
Local Controller Housing
AVID Controller
Comms. Controller
Central Computer System
Antenna Controller
ECS Site Controller
Detector Controller
Antenna Controller
12
How does it work?
Local Controller Housing
AVID Controller
Comms. Controller
Central Computer System
Antenna Controller
ECS Site Controller
Detector Controller
Antenna Controller
13
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

14
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)

15
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
  

16
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

17
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?

18
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

19
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

20
Thank you