September 10, 2020, 07:09 PM
The next generation of Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) systems — comprising of a three-piece on-board unit (OBU) — will be standard-issue, with no modifications allowed for the time being.
Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung explained on Facebook that all cars would eventually be outfitted with the touchscreen displays seen in the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) announcement due to "functionality" and "data security" considerations.
Other than displaying ERP transactions, the screen could be used to relay important traffic-related information to motorists.
"Best to provide it now so that other good uses can be incorporated in future," wrote Ong.
He added that while using a smartphone in place of the display unit might be a possible future upgrade, LTA decided to go ahead with standard-issue units for the time being, citing data security as a "key consideration".
"Further, if we use our own smartphones for ERP, there will be operational issues like battery running out, forgetting to bring smartphones, etc."
Design was part of contractual agreement
Ong's Facebook post came after "quite a number of feedback and questions" on the announcement of the new ERP systems, to be introduced gradually from the second half of 2021.
Answering queries about the three-piece unit, Ong said it was designed as such because of the need for a cooling unit.
Instead of having a larger integrated unit on the dashboard, it was decided that a separated module under the dashboard would work better.
The display units are also not as large as they appear in the photos, wrote Ong.
"The dimensions of the current IU are 121mm by 78mm and new display unit are 152mm by 80mm, so only slightly bigger."
LTA had called for an international tender, and had to choose the best system from the proposals.
There was no consultation on the design of the OBUs as a change of the design would affect the contract that LTA was already bound by.
"We will have to see how to do this better next time," said Ong.
He further elaborated on the decision to hold back on implementing distance-based charging, despite the new system's ability to handle it.
"Distance-based charging is a significant policy change which has many implications and should be studied carefully," Ong explained.
Read the full post here:
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Top image from Ong Ye Kung's and LTA's Facebook page
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