LTA issues tender for satellite-based ERP system; distance-based pricing a possibility

Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 1 Oct 14;

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday (Oct 1) called a tender to develop a next-generation electronic road pricing (ERP) system, based on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology.

In a press release, LTA said it had conducted an 18-month System Evaluation Test, which concluded in December 2012. The new system will overcome the constraints of physical gantries, which are costly and take up land space, the LTA said. Also, the existing system is almost 20 years old and will become increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain, it added.

The new GNSS-based system will allow for distance-based pricing along congested roads where road pricing is to be implemented. This pricing method is more "equitable" as motorists will be charged proportionate to the distance travelled on congested roads, the authorities said.

ON-BOARD UNIT THAT SUPPORTS COUPONLESS PARKING

Motorists can also look forward to an "interactive and intelligent" On-Board Unit that will replace their In-Vehicle Unit (IU). These units can support a range of value-added services such as real-time traffic information tailored to location and electronic payment for parking, instead of the current paper coupons, LTA said.

According to transport analysts, this may not necessarily lead to an increase in costs for motorists. Said Adjunct Associate Professor Gopinath Menon from Nanyang Technological University's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering: "It depends on how you price the system. For example, when we started the system from paper to the first ERP, it was cheaper during the first few years. So, that is up to LTA to decide."

PAY-PER-USE FOR OFF-PEAK CAR USERS?

The authorities are also considering new policies with the satnav system, such as allowing Off-Peak Car (OPC) users to pay only for short periods of usage - rather than the whole day, or permitting the use of OPCs on uncongested roads.

Authorities have also reassured motorists that their privacy will be safeguarded, as any data collected will be made anonymous. Assoc Prof Menon also said privacy should not be an issue. "Whenever you use an electronic equipment, you leave a footprint. Even when you use a handphone, you use an ATM machine. I think this is no worse than any of the other systems."

Observers expect the second generation road pricing system to encourage motorists to be more sensible in their usage of vehicles. This could have an impact on Certificate of Entitlement prices.

COULD ERP 2 LOWER COE PREMIUMS?

"Car usage is the main reason that contributes to traffic congestion. However, car ownership itself is not really having the direct relationship with the traffic congestion," explained Dr Lee Der Horng, professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore.

“Then, once we have the ERP 2 system, Singapore will be in a perfect position to impose a usage-based charging system, and from there, can control vehicle usage. Personally, I do not rule out the possibility that with the ERP 2 system, the Government may be more lenient in terms of car ownership, because by then, we already have a perfect tool to manage actual car usage in Singapore."

To make the GNSS-based system possible, LTA has shortlisted three consortia to participate in the upcoming tender: NCS and MHI Engine System Asia, ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) and Watchdata Technologies and Beijing Watchdata System.

The contract to design and develop the system is expected to be awarded in the second half of 2015, and LTA aims to implement the system from around 2020.

- CNA/kk

Distance-based road pricing ‘more equitable’
New framework can also allow authorities to move faster to tackle congestion
Joy Fang Today Online 2 Oct 14;

SINGAPORE — The new satellite-based road pricing system could mean the authorities can move more quickly to respond to changes in travel patterns to ease congestion, said transport experts whom TODAY spoke to.

While much would depend on the final proposal chosen by the Government, the experts felt a system that could spell out which roads would cost more to travel on would be fairer and better than the current zone-based system marked by Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries.

Giving motorists more real-time information about which roads are most congested could also help change their driving behaviour, they said.

“You are charging by a distance-based (method) rather than by entry, so it’s a fairer system ... It is also giving more information to motorists, so it’s definitely better than the current system,” said Associate Professor Gopinath Menon, who teaches transportation engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Dr Park Byung Joon, UniSIM’s head of programme for Urban Transport Management, said with the current system, there is no incentive for drivers to avoid congested roads in an ERP zone that they have entered, because they have paid the fare. Imposing charges on individual roads would be a better way of nudging them to switch routes, he said.

However, Assoc Prof Menon pointed out that whether motorists would avoid more heavily used roads would be contingent on how the charges are set and how high they are.

Dr Alexander Erath from the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability said the new system could allow pricing to become “dynamic” and based on real-time information, according to the road congestion level at a particular moment.

In comparison, current ERP rates are reviewed every three months based on the average congestion in a particular zone, he added.

Indeed, a “temporary ERP”, said Dr Park, could be created for only a few days or weeks by programming the system’s software, when special events take place.

Whether the Off-Peak Car (OPC) scheme — in which motorists pay less for Certificates of Entitlement, but pay a flat fee of S$20 a day when they use their vehicles during restricted hours — will still be relevant remains a question.

Dr Erath said OPC drivers could have more flexibility in future. Noting that some roads are not congested during restricted hours, he said OPC drivers could be charged more than non-OPC drivers when they use a congested road, instead of paying the flat fee.

NTU transport economist Walter Theseira said the new system opens up opportunities for application developers to deliver value-added services to the public, such as integrating navigation or notifying people of special deals within their vicinity.

“It might not be something that will come out when the system starts, but I think it’s something that will definitely become a feature in a while,” he said.

Dr Erath added that, ultimately, it was a question of how much flexibility drivers are willing to accept — such as a system in which costs may fluctuate day by day, therefore driving them to adjust their routes on a daily basis.

“That, for me, is still an open question — how far can you go without annoying the motorists too much,” he said.

LTA calls for tender to develop satellite-based ERP system
The decision to build the new ERP system comes after an 18-month system evaluation test showed it is a technologically feasible idea, says the LTA. TODAY file photo
3 firms shortlisted to design second-generation system based on GNSS technology
Joy Fang Today Online 2 Oct 14;

SINGAPORE — A new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system using satellite positioning technology will be put in place by 2020 and could herald a sea change in how motorists are taxed for congestion. Motorists could pay for the distance they travel on congested roads, rather than pay a flat fee once they enter an ERP zone, as with the existing system.

A wide variety of changes could also be thrown up when Singapore deploys the new system based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, which uses satellites to pinpoint a user’s geographic location. These range from replacing parking coupons to paying for tolls at checkpoints, and allowing motorists to get real-time traffic information on an interactive computer installed in vehicles, in place of the existing in-vehicle unit.

Announcing yesterday that it has called a tender in which three companies have been shortlisted to develop this second-generation ERP system, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said: “A key advantage of a GNSS-based system is the ability to implement distance-based pricing along the congested roads where road pricing is to be implemented. Distance-based pricing, as opposed to the current gantry-based system, is more equitable, as motorists will be charged proportionate to the distance travelled on these congested roads.”

The decision to build the new ERP system, said the LTA, comes after an 18-month system evaluation test in Woodlands Avenue 12 that concluded in December 2012 showed it is a technologically feasible idea.

The LTA also noted the constraints of the current ERP system, such as the cost of installing the gantries, which take up land space, and that it would become increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain, given that the existing system is almost two decades old.

“With the GNSS-based system, motorists can also look forward to an interactive and intelligent on-board unit in their vehicles that can support a range of value-added services. These include real-time traffic information tailored to their location, as well as electronic payment for parking fees without today’s paper coupons,” the LTA said in its press release.

“Off-peak car users can look forward to new policies that we are considering, which may allow them to pay only for using their vehicles for short periods rather than the whole day or for using them only on uncongested roads.”

In response to TODAY’s queries, an LTA spokesman said the on-board unit could also be used to purchase e-Day licences for Off-Peak Cars and pay for checkpoint tolls.

A range of payment options will be available, from upfront payment through Contactless e-Purse Application (CEPAS)-compliant stored value cards to backend payment using credit and debit cards, a virtual payment account and GIRO, the spokesman added.

Asked about concerns over privacy, the LTA spokesman said it had factored this into the design of the new system.

“We want to reassure all road users that the necessary safeguards will be incorporated, so only data necessary to perform relevant functions will be collected,” he added.

Dr Alexander Erath of the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability said the Government must have a “strict data policy”, which defines the purpose of the data clearly and ensures it is not used for anything else.

Just as Singapore blazed the way in setting up the current ERP system in 1998, no other country is currently deploying a GNSS-based system nationwide — GPS-tracking systems are implemented on a smaller scale, such as by large logistics companies to track their trucks. Germany introduced a GNSS-based road-pricing system in 2005, but it is limited to truck tolls.

Critics of the current ERP system have said it has not been entirely efficient in controlling congestion on priced roads.

Commenting on the possibility that motorists could pay only for the stretch of taxed roads they use under the new system, transport analysts told TODAY it could be a more efficient way to ease congestion as drivers are more likely to change their travel patterns.

Nanyang Technological University transport economist Walter Theseira said the system should ideally be able to learn a motorist’s regular route and calculate how much he could expect to pay that day. It should also suggest alternative routes with different prices and journey times, he added.

Dr Park Byung Joon, head of programme for Urban Transport Management at SIM University, said motorists could pay ERP charges at the end of a month, after the distance clocked has been compiled.

The three consortia shortlisted to participate in the tender are NCS & MHI Engine System Asia, ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) and Watchdata Technologies & Beijing Watchdata System. The contract is expected to be awarded in the second half of next year and implemented around 2020.

New ERP system to be distance-based
Christopher Tan My Paper AsiaOne 2 Oct 14;

Singapore has called a tender for contractors to build the next-generation Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday that it has shortlisted three consortia to take part in the multi-billion-dollar exercise.

They are NCS & MHI Engine System Asia, ST Electronics (InfoComm Systems), and Watchdata Technologies & Beijing Watch- data System.

ST Electronics has roped in computing giant IBM as a sub- contractor for its bid.

The winner will build a satellite-aided, gantry-less system that is capable of charging motorists based not only on the location and time they drive, but also the distance they travel. It works on the same principle as a satellite navigation system.

The Straits Times understands that the three parties will have up to February to submit their bids, and the tender is expected to be awarded in the second half of the year.

Although the authority said it aims to implement the system "from around 2020", industry watchers reckon it will be ready by 2019.

That is the year that Singapore hopes to host the 26th Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, a prestigious event held annually since 1994. Detroit hosted this year's congress.

The LTA, together with the Intelligent Transportation Society Singapore, has put in a bid for the rights to host the event.

The tender for the next-generation ERP system has been long awaited by the industry, following an 18-month "live" evaluation that was completed in December 2012.

The LTA said the evaluation showed that it is "technologically feasible" to develop a satellite- based ERP system in Singapore.

It said: "This new system will overcome the constraints of physical gantries, which are costly and take up land space. In addition, it is not practical to continue with the current gantry system, which is almost two decades old and will become increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain."

The authority added that distance-based charging is "more equitable" to motorists, who will also enjoy the benefits of a more sophisticated in-vehicle unit that can provide real-time traffic information, coupon-free kerbside parking and flexible charges for the use of off-peak cars.

But motorists had other questions on their minds. "Does this mean that there will be more COEs?" businessman Leslie Chia, 49, wanted to know.

Others are worried about having their movements tracked. But Park Byung Joon, an urban transport management expert at SIM University, said "this is more fear than concern", "because when- ever you use navigation, your mobile phone or an app to call for a cab, your location is known".

Nevertheless, he said, the Government should assure users that their data will not be misused.