LTA to phase out Singapore’s outdated gantries with new road pricing system

The new system will be satellite-based.

It may soon be time to say goodbye to the country’s gantry system. The Land Transport Authority yesterday called a tender to develop Singapore’s next generation electronic road pricing system, which will be based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology.

This new system will overcome the constraints of physical gantries, which are costly and take up land space. It will also feature distance-based pricing along congested roads, which will be a more equtable way of charging motorists.

The LTA claims that it is no longer practical to continue with the current gantry system, which is almost two decades old and will become increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain.

Three consortia have been shortlisted to participate in the upcoming tender to develop the next generation road pricing system. These are NCS Pte Ltd & MHI Engine System Asia Pte Ltd, ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) Pte Ltd, and Watchdata Technologies Pte Ltd & Beijing Watchdata System Co Ltd.

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

Here’s more from the LTA:

With the GNSS-based system, motorists can also look forward to an interactive and intelligent on-board unit (OBU) in their vehicle 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.

Off-peak car users can look forward to new policies which 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.