New ERP gantries
[Note: If you're looking for locations of the 16 new ERP gantries as announced in the Land Transport Review, please refer to this latest post instead.]
More ERP gantries coming your way on 1 Nov 2007 onwards. In summary, the changes are:
- South-bound CTE: Operational hours extended from 7:30am - 9:30am to 7am - 11am on weekdays
- North-bound CTE (before PIE): New gantry charging from 5:30pm - 10:30pm on weekdays
- East-bound CTE: Two new gantries charging from 6pm - 8pm on weekdays. One gantry is placed before the Rochor Road exit and another at the Ophir Road slip road.
- South-bound BKE (before PIE): New gantry 7:30am - 9am on weekdays
[Post-note: The 4 ERP gantries mentioned above are denoted by blue pins. The rest of the pins are the location of the new 16 ERP gantries that was announced in the Land Transport Review Part 3. ]
Expanding ERP Coverage To Better Manage Congestion1. Traffic congestion affects the quality of life and the environment as well as the overall efficiency and productivity of the economy. The LTA adopts a holistic and multi-pronged approach to deal with congestion in a sustainable manner. These include promoting the use of public transport, moderating vehicle growth, and using Electronic Road Pricing (ERP).
2. The ERP is a key tool for managing congestion, by maintaining traffic flow within the optimal speed range of 45 to 65 kilometres per hour on expressways and 20 to 30 kilometres per hour on arterial roads. The ERP seeks to achieve relatively smooth flowing roads by encouraging motorists to consciously plan their trips via different routes or consider public transport alternatives. As demand for travel increases due to factors such as population and economic growth, the ERP has to be continually reviewed for effectiveness, to take into account dynamic traffic conditions.
3. The LTA has completed its review of traffic conditions on the roads and will be extending the coverage of ERP at the following locations. The changes take effect from 1 November 2007.
South-bound Central Expressway (CTE): Extension of Morning ERP Hours
4. Currently, ERP is in operation on the south-bound CTE from 7.30am to 9.30am during weekdays. The ERP has been effective in keeping traffic congestion in check during this period. However, outside the current ERP operating hours, traffic speeds have consistently fallen below the optimal speed range on the stretch between Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 and Braddell Road.
5. To improve traffic speeds, the charging hours at the ERP gantry between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Braddell Road will be extended to operate from 7am to 11am on weekdays.
6. There will be no changes in the operating hours (7.30am to 9.30am) of the other three ERP gantries along south-bound CTE (between Braddell Road and PIE; and Serangoon and Balestier Slip Roads). This is because the speeds along this CTE stretch between Braddell Road and PIE remain within the optimal speed range.
North-bound Central Expressway (CTE): New Gantry with Extended Evening ERP Hours7. The implementation of evening ERP on the north-bound CTE since August 2005 has helped to improve travel speeds on the CTE north of the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) exit. However, the average traffic speeds on the stretch from Bukit Timah to just before the PIE exit have consistently fallen below the optimal speed range due to the high volume of traffic from the city exiting to the PIE.
8. To manage congestion along this stretch, a new ERP gantry will be erected along the north-bound CTE just before the PIE exit. The charging hours at this gantry will be between 5.30 pm and 10.30 pm on weekdays. The charging hours reflect the period during which congestion is experienced on this stretch of the CTE.
Evening ERP on East-bound East Coast Parkway (ECP): New Gantries for Evening ERP Charging9. The high traffic volume along the east-bound ECP between 6pm and 8pm on weekdays has led to traffic congestion occurring between Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) and Fort Road exit of east-bound ECP.
10. In March 2007, LTA had provided an additional lane in each direction of the ECP between Fort Road and Marina South to help alleviate the congestion. Despite this, traffic speeds continue to remain below the optimal speed range.
11. To manage the congestion, ERP will be implemented on the east-bound ECP from 6pm to 8pm during weekdays. An ERP gantry will be erected at each of the two accesses into the east-bound ECP from the city and the AYE, namely, (i) before the Rochor Road exit and (ii) at the Ophir Road slip road.
South-bound Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE): New Gantry for Morning ERP Charging
12. Average traffic speeds on the BKE have deteriorated below the optimal speed range on weekdays. A new ERP gantry will be erected after the Dairy Farm exit, before the BKE joins the PIE, to help manage the traffic congestion there. The operating hours for this gantry will be from 7.30am to 9am during weekdays.
Installation of Other Gantries Which Will Not Be Activated Until Speeds Fall Below Optimal Speed RangeSouth-bound Upper Bukit Timah Road: New Gantry
13. With the introduction of a new gantry at the south-bound BKE, traffic at Upper Bukit Timah Road may deteriorate as traffic decants from the BKE. Hence, an ERP gantry will be erected along the south-bound Upper Bukit Timah Road after Hume Avenue to allow us to address congestion in a timely manner if it were to build up. This gantry will only be activated when congestion builds up and traffic conditions warrant the implementation of ERP.
14. LTA will give prior notice before levying any ERP charge at this gantry.
Outer Cordon: New ERP Gantries15. In May 1999, LTA announced that the ERP system would be progressively expanded beyond the Restricted Zone (RZ) to relieve traffic congestion along roads in the Outer Cordon area under Phase 2 of the ERP plan. The aim is to relieve congestion in the Outer Cordon area by forming a cordon covering the radial roads leading into the city around the RZ.
16. On 6 September 1999, LTA implemented seven gantries in the Outer Cordon and the Central Expressway under ERP Phase 2A, and announced that the remaining Phase 2 gantries would be implemented as and when traffic conditions warrant it.
17. There are 10 locations remaining in the Outer Cordon where ERP has not been implemented. LTA has been monitoring traffic conditions on these roads very closely and anticipates that traffic speeds may deteriorate below the optimal speed range at four of the locations.
18. To enable LTA to be more timely in managing traffic congestion on these roads, LTA will be installing gantries at these four locations, namely Toa Payoh Lorong 6, Upper Boon Keng Road, Kallang Bahru Road and Geylang Bahru Road. ERP charging will be activated only when traffic conditions deteriorate and warrant the implementation of ERP. LTA will continue to monitor the traffic conditions at the remaining six locations.
19. LTA will give prior notice before implementing ERP charging at these gantries.
Enclosures:Annex A - ERP charges at new gantries/extended hours of operation
Annex B - Summary of implementation dates for ERP 2007 (including KPE)
Annex C - Location maps of gantries (with dates of implementation for gantries operating in 2007)
Annex D - Location map of ERP Outer Cordon gantriesSource: LTA (23 August 2007)
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6 comments:
Is there a better way to deal with congestion?
How about increasing the COE price or increase the ERP much more? The latter would be a great pain to majority of the car owners.
Hi Calla,
Welcome to Singapore's Land Transport.
Over the past few years or so, Government has increasingly focus on controlling congestion by means of using the car rather than owning a car. In the 1995 LTA White Paper, they specifically wanted more Singaporeans to own car, and they have set a specific target of improving the car to population ratio from 1:10 to 1:7 by 2010.
As such, when they realised a few years back that the target is still far from achieving (about 1:9), they quickly increase COE quota which caused the COE prices to plunged from $70,000 to about $15,000 now. As such, the COE prices will in fact maintain at current levels, if not lower.
I agree with you that increasing ERP drastically is a way to tackle with congestion. However, it is a politically bitter pill to swallow. I estimate that it would take at least an ERP cost of $15 to make car users to seriously consider taking public transport instead.
However, we can't increase ERP cost unilaterally without offering an alternative. Look at the current peak hours public transport -- it's pack like sardines. And there are the usual public complaints of overcrowding, long wait, and long travel time. Unless these concerns can be address, public transport is not attractive for car users to switch to it.
In terms of dealing with congestion, there are some other measures that Singapore has not tried. We can consider controlling car usage through reducing car park lots in city area. Either that, use congestion as a deterrent tool itself (like Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta).
Regards,
Daniel Chin
Or get people on bicycles, which take up far less space and emit no pollution. It takes me the same amount of time to get to work by bicycle or by train. Taking the train means paying to stand in an overcrowded space. Cycling is free and healthier.
In the long term, petrol-based transport is simply not financially viable. People who squeal about high ERP prices are only hiding their heads in the sand ==- they are already being undercharged for the right to drive their one-tonne polluting metal box.
Hmmm.. basically the government wants more people to own cars, but still wants less congestion. That's tough and as I write, it sounds ridiculous! If the government had wanted more people to own cars, they should have predicted that there would be congestions on the road and started improving road works immediately. In some cases, ERP gantries are put up in areas where the simple solution of better road construction could have solved the problem. We are coming to a stage where we will be buying cars to keep them at home for show. I would also like to know what was the purpose of the COE in the first place? I thought it was to control the number of cars on the road? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The arrogant person in parliment has again increase the gantries. But will it ease congestion or Pay and Pay.Anything free is not good. The government provvvides payouts and in turn take it back from somewhere right? Yes Raymond studied the system very well and tha was what he replied arrogantly in parliment. This does not solve the congestions everyday. Why must we pay twice if returning back to Yishun on the express way? Ridiculous isn't it? Singaporeans speak up and dont be puppets
If Singapore goes under due to a freak election result, my opinion is that the onus lies squarely on the government......not Singaporeans.
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