Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
The densely populated island state is moving from what it calls Electric Road Pricing (ERP) 1.0 to ERP 2.0. The first version used gantries – or automatic tolls – to charge drivers a fee through an in-car device when they used specific roadways during certain hours.
ERP 2.0 sees the vehicle instead tracked through GPS, which can tell where a vehicle is at all operating times.
"ERP 2.0 will provide more comprehensive aggregated traffic information and will be able to operate without physical gantries. We will be able to introduce new 'virtual gantries,' which allow for more flexible and responsive congestion management," explained the LTA.
But the island's government doesn't just control inflow into urban areas through toll-like charging – it also aggressively controls the total number of cars operating within its borders.
Singapore requires vehicle owners to bid for a set number of Certificates of Entitlement – costly operating permits valid for only ten years. The result is an increase of around SG$100,000 ($75,500) every ten years, depending on that year's COE price, on top of a car's usual price. The high total price disincentivizes mass car ownership, which helps the government manage traffic and emissions.
Between ERP 2.0, a plan to one day charge based on distance instead of per gantry entry, improvements in mass transit links, and “evolving” traffic patterns sparked by an increase in flexible work arrangements, Singapore reckons it can handle the extra traffic from 20,000 cars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 08, @10:48PM (3 children)
The thing to know about Singapore is that the entire country is a single high density city, akin to central London. What works for Singapore has little to do with most of the rest of the world.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09, @12:36AM (2 children)
Seriously, JM, when was the last time you saw the sunlight? The last time you actually saw your penis? How's the carpet in your mom's basement? Is it even possible to get the Cheetos and Dew out of the shag?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Saturday November 09, @12:38AM (1 child)
Heh. What'd you do to him, Joe?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 5, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 09, @12:46AM
I don't know. I guess my experience living with 3 housemates from Singapore through grad school was offensive to their AC sense of security in their ignorance and isolation.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Saturday November 09, @12:43AM (1 child)
Seems to me if the demand over availability is so out of whack then it's well worth investigating other options, like people movers or hoverboards. Maybe a rail line to greatly reduce truck traffic.
It also seems to me that if the demand over availability is so out of whack then someone is making mucho $$$$$ off the existing system, and I suspect they have a lot of yay/nay say over how the "problem" gets fixed.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09, @01:36AM
Seems to me you hardly know anything about Singapore and barely even tried to look stuff up before commenting.
It's a small island city. For trucked goods everything is "last mile".
(Score: 4, Interesting) by vali.magni on Saturday November 09, @02:15AM
Until now, the ERP scheme is based on gantries at major chokepoints, expressways and business districts. Each vehicle has a small onboard in-vehicle unit ("IU") containing a pre-paid cash-card. When the vehicle approaches a gantry, the IU and ERP gantry communicate, and a fee (ex: $2.50) is deducted from the cash card. The vehicle simply drives under the gantry. Drivers periodically top up their cash cards and the system works.
The new ERP2.0 (electronic road pricing) scheme as it is called in Singapore has been brewing for nearly two decades. This started back in 2002 when mobile devices were simply phones and SMS boxes [1]. Technology had rapidly evolved [2] by the time the tender went out, rendering the original requirements meaningless. Now these new ERP2.0 systems are being rolled out, car owners have to replace their small IU with a collection of three separate pieces of equipment (an antenna unit, a touch screen device, and a processing unit which is a box that sits near your feet) [3].
Every driver in Singapore has 1-2 mobile phones, in fact it's rare to see anyone driving without a phone mounted near their steering wheel for navigation purposes. All of this tracking and charging can be done with an app and a backend. In fact this is exactly what GovTech Singapore did during covid, they rolled out the TraceTogether contact & tracking app in two months and it just worked.
[1] https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/next-generation-erp-system-was-more-decade-making [todayonline.com]
[2] https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lta-calls-tender-develop-satellite-based-erp-system [todayonline.com]
[3] https://onemotoring.lta.gov.sg/content/onemotoring/home/driving/ERP/erp-2-0.html [lta.gov.sg]
(Score: 3, Informative) by gnuman on Saturday November 09, @02:51PM
driving in Singapore is basically for deliveries/businesses and the rich. The rest use public transit. At rush hour, the subway arrives basically every minute and the avalanche of people disappears without causing major congestion.
Increasing road capacity here is to increase revenue from the permit system by allowing more permits.