Student ask about ERP and recession

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am a business student. I like to ask you. Why during this recession time government of Singapore increase ERP, and even increasing up to 5 gantries on the main district? What are the negative effects?

REPLY
Please send your enquiry to the Minister of Transport.

Singapore likes ERP in Dubai

My friend, a Singaporean, worked in Dubai. I visited him recently. He said that Dubai introduced the ERP and there is now less congestion on the road. He does not mind paying ERP as it helps him to reach home faster. He thinks that this is a good idea. 

Too many cars

There are too many cars parked on the roads in many private housing estates. The owners of each house have two or more cars. As the house usually accommodate only one car, the additional cars are parked on the road, causing congestion and difficult for other cars to drive through.

There are too many cars in Singapore. This is due to the inadequate service to link the private housing estates to the MRT station or bus interchange.

I hope that the local services can be improved. These local services will serve an area within the same town. The Land Transport Authority should encourage the small operators to provide a feeder bus service or a shared taxi service, for $1.50 per trip, to bring people within the same town.

This will encourage people to use the feeder services,  instead of buying an additional car.

Central Expressway

I find the traffic flow in the Central Expressway to be quite smooth on most days. I avoid the extremely busy hours (where the ERP charges are high). On other times, the flow is smooth. 

I find the electronic display to be useful, as it tells me the exact charge and the period that the rate applies. This allows me to decide on the best time to travel, to reduce the ERP charges.

It is time to show appreciation to the Land Transport Authority.

Advertising messages

There are too much advertising messages on buses, trains and stations. The transport operators wish to increase their advertising revenue, but they forget that their customers need information to use their service. 

For example, I find it difficult to get information about the train service in the MRT stations, due to the distraction from the advertisements. I like the bus to tell me which are the main roads for their service, but I get more advertisements.

I hope that the authority restrict the advertisements and require the transport operators to provide information relevant to the service.  We have to get away from the over-commercialised world.