Timothy Koshy, Today Online 22 Feb 08;
The recently announced measures to control car usage have ignited a debate on whether more Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries and higher rates will indeed ease traffic congestion in Singapore.
A few questions and some creative suggestions may be in order. Firstly, should heavy road users pay the same ERP rates as those who drive occasionally? Instead of a flat charge for all cars, for example, a graduated scale could be applied so that those who cross ERP gantries more than a certain number of times a month get charged double. Very heavy users could be charged triple or more.
A parallel would be the charges levied on another public utility: Water. The cost of domestic consumption increases from $1.17 to $1.40 per cubic metre once usage crosses 40 cubic metres per month.
Just as those who use more water pay more per unit, those who use the roads more could be charged more in ERP. On the flip side, occasional or infrequent users could have ERP charges waived altogether.
Whether such differentiation would be meaningful depends on whether heavy users of ERP-controlled roads form a meaningfully distinct group from the total population of car users.
The additional revenue from ERP can also be used to incentivise heavy car users to switch to public transport. For example, for each dollar above $200 paid in ERP charges in a month, drivers could be given a credit of 50 cents with a limited life of, say, six months, specifically for use on public transport.
How many Singaporeans would simply let such accumulated credits expire without being used?
Differentiated ERP charges could also be used as a tool for environmental protection. For example, in London, heavily polluting cars will attract congestion charges of up to £25 ($68.85) from October whereas clean vehicles will be given a 100-per-cent discount.
Would it be helpful to also look at non-financial controls? For example, crossing more than a certain number of gantries per month could be disallowed altogether, say, by imposing demerit points on offending drivers. This would set an upper ceiling on how much any one vehicle can add to road congestion.
This would add another facet to car control instead of purely monetary disincentives.
To change habits, Singapore could mark World Carfree Day on Sept 22 in some meaningful way, for example, by closing off Shenton Way to traffic. Some car users who transfer to public transport for a day may decide it is a better way to go after all.
It would also help to get people onto public transport if some popular places truly are more conveniently accessed by public transport than private vehicles. For example, universities could be made car unfriendly this way. There must be a limit to how much inconvenience people will put up with just to drive a car.
Also, should usage costs be factored into the capital cost of cars?
One point of discussion has been whether those who have already paid the capital costs of a car would be deterred by usage costs. A partial remedy to this disconnect would be to refine the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system so that it is based on usage rather than solely duration of ownership.
For example, since drivers average 21,000 kilometres a year, perhaps a 10-year COE should expire after 10 years, or after 200,000 km of use, whichever is earlier. This way, the capital cost of buying and owning a car is directly connected to its usage, thus curbing attitudes to maximise usage after having bought a car.
And finally, has the time come to limit what cars can be used for? A notorious contributor to clogged-up arterial roads is the queues of cars driven by parents dropping their children off at school. For example, at Dunearn Road, this is what causes traffic jams.
A radical but perhaps effective solution to this problem may be for such schools or even for all schools to disallow pupils from being ferried to school by their parents.
Targeting heavy users and looking beyond financial measures may also help alleviate congestion.
The writer rides on a two-wheeler. These are his personal views.
