Wednesday, November 5, 2008

More ways to make you Pay & Pay

LTA researching on viability of distance-based road pricing as the next steps in easing congested roads in Singapore. This is where motorists are charged based on the distance they travel on congested roads, using GPS technology. Currently, Singapore motorists are charged at specific points when they enter congested areas, using Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been working with potential suppliers to test different satellite systems for the past couple of years. However, at the Urban Transport Leaders Summit on Wednesday, its chief engineer said there is no complete solution in sight yet. No timeline has been set for moving to this next stage of road pricing.

Such fine-tuning where motorists pay for the problems they cause is getting increasingly common around the world. But this would also mean an end to our freedom as a unique ID will be assign to each individual car which can be tracked easily. Although there are many pro to it, I still feel freedom is more important.

0 Comments: