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The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) (; ) scheme is an electronic toll collection
Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting toll s electronically....
 scheme adopted in Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
 to manage traffic by road pricing
Road pricing

Road pricing is an economic concept regarding the various direct charges applied for the use of roads. The road charges includes fuel taxes, vehicle licence, parking taxes, Toll road, and congestion pricing, including those which may vary by time of day, by the specific road, or by the specific vehicle, being used....
, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement
Certificate of Entitlement

The Certificate of Entitlement , instituted by the government of Singapore, is a program designed to limit automobile ownership, and hence, the number of vehicles on the country's roads....
 system. The ERP was implemented by the Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority

File:Land Transport Authority, Hampshire Office, Aug 06.JPGFile:LTA office .JPGThe Land Transport Authority of Singapore is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government of the Ministry of Transport ....
 in September 1998 to replace the Singapore Area Licensing Scheme
Singapore Area Licensing Scheme

The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme , introduced in 1975, charged drivers entering downtown Singapore, and thereby aimed to manage traffic demand....
  after successfully stress-testing the system with speeding Lamborghini
Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini, is an Italy manufacturer of sports cars, based in the small Italian village of Sant'Agata Bolognese, near Bologna....
s, Porsche
Porsche

Porsche SE or Porsche is a Germany automotive industry of luxury vehicle automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Porsche family and Pi?ch families....
s and Ferrari
Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1928 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari Joint stock company....
s. Singapore was the first city in the world to implement an electronic road toll collection system for purposes of congestion pricing
Congestion pricing

Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of a transport network in periods of peak demand to reduce traffic congestion....
.

scheme consists of ERP gantries located at all roads linking into Singapore's central business district
Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In Australia, China , Republic of Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa, the phrase is commonly used, and is often colloquially abbreviated to "CBD"....
 - areas within the Central Area
Central Area

File:Singapore skyline.JPGFile:Cbd night.jpgFile:Central model.jpgFile:SingaporeCBD from Carlsberg Sky Tower.jpgThe Central Area contains the core financial and commerce districts in Singapore, including eleven urban planning areas in Singapore, namely Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, Museum Planning Area, Newton, Singapore, Orc...
 such as the Downtown Core
Downtown Core

File:Singapore Skyline.jpgThe Downtown Core is a 266-hectare Urban planning areas in Singapore in the south of the city-state of Singapore. The Downtown Core surrounds the river mouth of the Singapore River and southeastern portion of its drainage basin, and is part of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district....
.






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The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) (; ) scheme is an electronic toll collection
Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting toll s electronically....
 scheme adopted in Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
 to manage traffic by road pricing
Road pricing

Road pricing is an economic concept regarding the various direct charges applied for the use of roads. The road charges includes fuel taxes, vehicle licence, parking taxes, Toll road, and congestion pricing, including those which may vary by time of day, by the specific road, or by the specific vehicle, being used....
, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement
Certificate of Entitlement

The Certificate of Entitlement , instituted by the government of Singapore, is a program designed to limit automobile ownership, and hence, the number of vehicles on the country's roads....
 system. The ERP was implemented by the Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority

File:Land Transport Authority, Hampshire Office, Aug 06.JPGFile:LTA office .JPGThe Land Transport Authority of Singapore is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government of the Ministry of Transport ....
 in September 1998 to replace the Singapore Area Licensing Scheme
Singapore Area Licensing Scheme

The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme , introduced in 1975, charged drivers entering downtown Singapore, and thereby aimed to manage traffic demand....
  after successfully stress-testing the system with speeding Lamborghini
Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini, is an Italy manufacturer of sports cars, based in the small Italian village of Sant'Agata Bolognese, near Bologna....
s, Porsche
Porsche

Porsche SE or Porsche is a Germany automotive industry of luxury vehicle automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Porsche family and Pi?ch families....
s and Ferrari
Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1928 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari Joint stock company....
s. Singapore was the first city in the world to implement an electronic road toll collection system for purposes of congestion pricing
Congestion pricing

Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of a transport network in periods of peak demand to reduce traffic congestion....
.

The system

The scheme consists of ERP gantries located at all roads linking into Singapore's central business district
Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In Australia, China , Republic of Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa, the phrase is commonly used, and is often colloquially abbreviated to "CBD"....
 - areas within the Central Area
Central Area

File:Singapore skyline.JPGFile:Cbd night.jpgFile:Central model.jpgFile:SingaporeCBD from Carlsberg Sky Tower.jpgThe Central Area contains the core financial and commerce districts in Singapore, including eleven urban planning areas in Singapore, namely Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, Museum Planning Area, Newton, Singapore, Orc...
 such as the Downtown Core
Downtown Core

File:Singapore Skyline.jpgThe Downtown Core is a 266-hectare Urban planning areas in Singapore in the south of the city-state of Singapore. The Downtown Core surrounds the river mouth of the Singapore River and southeastern portion of its drainage basin, and is part of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district....
. They are also located along the expressways and arterial roads with heavy traffic to discourage usage during peak hours. The gantry system is actually a system of sensors on 2 gantries, one in front of the other. Cameras are also attached to the gantries to capture the rear license plate numbers of vehicles. Currently, there are 80 ERP gantries in Singapore. New gantries are implemented where congestion is severe, like expressways and other roads.

A device known as an In-vehicle Unit (IU) is affixed on the lower right corner of the front windscreen within sight of the driver, in which a stored-value card
Stored-value card

A stored-value card represents money on deposit with the issuer, and is similar to a debit card. One major difference between stored value cards and debit cards is that debit cards are usually issued in the name of individual account holders, while stored value cards are usually anonymous....
, the CashCard
CashCard

File:Cashcard sample.jpgThe CashCard is a stored-value card made by Network for Electronic Transfers. It was launched in Singapore in 1996; since then, more than 6 million cards have been issued....
, is inserted for payment of the road usage charges. The second generation IU accepts Contactless NETS CashCard and EZ-Link
EZ-Link

File:EZ-Link.jpgFile:Defaced EZ-Link Card.jpgFile:EZ-reader.JPGFile:Cg1 expo GTM.jpgThe EZ-Link card is a contactless smart card based on the Sony FeliCa smartcard technology and used for the payment of public transportation fares in Singapore, with limited use in the small payments retail sector....
. The cost of an IU is S$150. It is mandatory for all Singapore-registered vehicles to be fitted with an IU if they wish to use the priced roads.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group....
 sold the IU technology to Singapore, and the project was spearheaded by a Consortium comprising Philips Singapore Pte Ltd, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Miyoshi Electronic Corporation and CEI Systems and Engineering (now known as CSE Global Ltd) in 1995 through an open tender.

When a vehicle equipped with an IU passes under an ERP gantry, a road usage charge is deducted from the CashCard in the IU. Sensors installed on the gantries communicate with the IU via a dedicated short-range communication system, and the deducted amount is displayed to the driver on an LCD screen of the IU.

The charge passing through a gantry depends on the location and time, the peak hour being the most expensive. Examples include a trip from Woodlands to Raffles Place via Yishun - CTE - CBD will cost about $15 during peak as the driver will pass about 5 gantries whereas during lunchtime, it cost about S$2. Foreigners driving foreign-registered cars on priced roads, during the ERP operating hours, could choose to either rent an IU or pay a daily flat fee of S$5 when leaving Singapore.

If drivers fail to have sufficient value in their CashCard (or EZ-Link), they can pay the charges plus an administration fee of $10 within 24 hours or till midnight. Otherwise, a fixed penalty ticket of S$70 will be issued by registered post to the vehicle owner. This may rise to a fine of $1000 if not settled within 30 days or 1 month jail time.

Improvements and adaptations