JUNE 23 — Fantastic news, Singaporeans! It appears the hated ERP road toll system is going to be abolished.
Yes, that's right, the system of payment gantries linked to the cash cards on our dashboards/windscreens that take between 50 cents and S$6 (RM18) depending on what road you're on and the time is destined for history’s dustbin.
This is really no joke.
From my home in Yishun to the centre of town, I estimate that at peak times, the ERP system hits me for a good S$15-20 one-way, every single day (OK, not Sundays).
But before you go and pop a celebratory bottle of champagne, lower the roof of your Porsche convertible and get ready for a carefree, toll-free road trip, remember these two age-old truths:
1. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2. What the government gives with one hand, it takes with the other.
Because as the old ERP fades into the sunset, we will witness the birth of ERP II.
This time it will be based not on the gantries that you've cursed and occasionally detoured to avoid but on satellite-based tracking installed in every vehicle.
The new system will charge you based on real-time information — the distance you’ve travelled and congestion ie. if you travel along more congested roads, you will pay more and the charging won't end at a particular time.
So, no waiting it out for the magic hour when ERP charging stops or reduces — constant real-time tracking and real-time payments.
Now logically this makes sense. Arbitrary gantries, while an innovation when they were introduced in the 90s, are open to all sorts of work arounds.
There was a time when you would see vehicles literally slow down or park in front of gantries at key times and wait for the pricing to switch off or change.
People would also simply detour before hitting gantries causing traffic congestion on byroads.
A real-time system will undoubtedly be more intelligent and might be able to tackle jams and congestion before or as they arise.
The new system will also integrate parking, doing away with the cumbersome system of parking coupons — so automatic deduction for everything.
But from a citizen and drivers' standpoint, there are some nagging questions.
If charging is going to be based on congestion, how much of our time are we now going to spend anticipating jams, staring at apps looking for jams to avoid and taking circuitous routes to stop the meterclicking away?
How will this system integrate with existing car hire systems like Grab and Gojek which currently factor in ERP pricing?
And will this system really operate day and night meaning no car-free, toll-free riding at any time?
Also given the system's ability to track the distance a vehicle has travelled in real time — well, distance over time = speed — which means your speed is going to be known at all times.
No more avoiding speed cameras and dodging speed guns — there will be no mercy and nowhere to hide. Inch above 50 kilometres per hour and prepare to face the consequences.
The inability to indulge in the masses' favourite transgression — speeding — raises another question: surveillance and privacy.
Every car fitted with a tracking device, every journey tracked from beginning to end.
Authorities will know where each of us (at least each driver) is on a minute-by-minute basis.
They will know where we were on any given day. Where we parked, for how long etc.
This is a lot of knowledge; in fact, such a comprehensive system of driving and movement surveillance is, as far as I know, quite unprecedented anywhere in the world.
It will bring an absolute end to any sense of privacy — where you journey and your whereabouts are your own business.
The system, should, in principle, work everywhere at all times.
While there may well be many day to day practical and rational benefits to this change, psychologically this is a real leap. And Singapore’s drivers will have to ask themselves if they are ready.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
