ERP To Cover Three More Stretches Of Expressway

Source : The Business Times, August 24, 2007

Operating hours on CTE to go up; five new gantries to be erected islandwide

Heavy going: Govt will review the vehicle growth rate because the current 3% growth rate cap is based on an ever increasing base, and road growth ahead will shrink, says Transport Minister Raymond Lim

ELECTRONIC road pricing (ERP) will be expanded to three stretches of expressway from Nov 1, while current operating hours on the Central Expressway (CTE) will be extended. In addition, five new gantries will be erected across the island but will remain unactivated unless vehicle speeds fall below the optimal speed range.

Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced this yesterday during a visit to the Kallang/Paya Lebar Expressway Operational Control Centre.

'Over the last two years, traffic levels have been gradually but noticeably building up,' he said. 'More roads are congested, especially during peak hours, including in the evenings.'

As a result, a Land Transport Authority review concluded that morning ERP along the south-bound CTE will be extended. The existing gantry between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Braddell Road will change its operating hours to 7am-11am on weekdays from 7.30am-9.30am currently.

The review also includes the building of three new gantries. The first is along the north-bound CTE to cover the stretch from Bukit Timah to just before the Pan Island Expressway (PIE). It will operate from 5.30pm-10.30pm on weekdays. Evening ERP already exists farther up the north-bound CTE after the PIE exit. This gantry was erected in August 2005.

Another area of congestion to be addressed is the east-bound East Coast Parkway (PIE). A gantry each will be built at the two accesses into the east-bound ECP from the city and the Ayer Rajah Expressway, that is, before the Rochor Road exit and at the Ophir Road slip road. The pair of gantries will operate from 6pm-8pm on weekdays.

The third new gantry will be for the morning peak period on the south-bound Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE). It will be located after the Dairy Farm exit, before the BKE joins the PIE, and operate from 7.30am-9am on weekdays.

Five other gantries will also be installed on the south-bound Upper Bukit Timah Road and in the Outer Cordon area, namely, Toa Payoh Lorong 6, Upper Boon Keng Road, Kallang Bahru Road and Geylang Bahru Road.

Mr Lim said the ERP system has been effective in keeping Singapore's roads and expressways smooth-flowing - above 45 kmh for expressways and above 20 kmh on arterial roads.

'With the introduction of ERP in 1998, the government has been able to rely more on car usage charges and less on car ownership taxes to manage traffic demand,' he said, adding that vehicle ownership taxes have been reduced and as a result, annual vehicle ownership revenue fell from $3.4 billion in 1997 to $1.7 billion in 2006 compared with about $90 million in annual ERP revenue collected during that period.

'ERP has thus proven to be a more effective approach to managing traffic demand, and it costs motorists much less overall.'

Mr Lim also mentioned that the vehicle growth rate will be reviewed because the current 3 per cent growth rate cap is based on an ever increasing base.

'In 1990, when the 3 per cent cap was introduced, it amounted to 16,000 additional vehicles a year. Today, 3 per cent amounts to 24,000 additional vehicles every year. Against this is the fact that road growth was only one per cent per year in the last 15 years, going down to about 0.5 per cent over the next 15 years.'