PUBLISHED ONAugust 30, 2024 6:30 AMByKhoo Yi-HangNo administrative charges will be incurred for ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) fees made within a five-day grace period come October this year, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said on August 30.
This comes ahead of a new feature on the next-generation ERP 2.0 on-board unit (OBU) that will alert motorists to missed payments, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on the same day.
The new feature, which can also be used to facilitate payments, will be rolled out in mid-2025.
The roll-out of the ERP 2.0 system means motorists can eventually make such payments via the OBU display, said Chee at the Ministry of Transport's office in Alexandra Road.
"With the installation of ERP 2.0, there's no longer a need for us to send them a letter, and therefore, there's no longer a need for LTA to charge them the $10 admin fee," he added.
Chee said that from Oct 1, if a motorist has ERP arrears, LTA will send them an SMS and give them a five-day grace period to make the payment.
Failure to do so after the five days are up will result in a letter notification to pay the charge and a $10 administrative fee - or $8 if paid online - followed by a $70 fine if the motorist still refuses to pay the amount.
Chee added: "There are half a million of such letters being sent out every year now. If we can help to bring this number down to as low a number as possible - zero would be ideal - I think that will help everyone to save time and save money."
Presently, when a motorist misses an ERP charge, they'll receive a letter notifying them of the missed charge, instructing them to pay that amount plus an additional $10 administrative fee.
Failure to settle the charge and fee will result in a $70 fine.
This comes as part of the changes taking place as Singapore transitions to ERP 2.0 to update the current ERP system that has been in place since 1998.
"As of this point, about 100,000 vehicles have installed the ERP 2.0 OBU (on-board unit)," Chee said.
"We are making good progress on this front and we are on track to completing the installation by 2026."
The 100,000 vehicles make up about 10 per cent of the total vehicle population in Singapore, Chee also stated.
He also expressed gratitude towards the early adopters of the OBU, thanking them for their feedback which aided in fine-tuning the OBU and improving the installation process.
There is now a "wider range of options" available to vehicle owners and workshops are "more familiar" with the installation process, he said.
"This will give us the ability to further scale up the installation so that more cars can benefit from ERP 2.0," Chee stated.
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khooyihang@asiaone.com
