The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has rebutted a Workers' Party (WP) Facebook post which stated that the waiver of the S$10 administrative fee for missed Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) payments within the grace period was first brought up by the opposition party in 2017.

LTA said that the recently announced waiver is not the same as what WP proposed in 2017.

"We are not asking taxpayers to bear the administrative charges on a permanent basis," LTA wrote.

Under the current system, when a motorist fails to make an ERP payment when they pass a gantry, they will receive a letter in a few days, requiring them to do so along with a S$10 administrative charge.

LTA recently announced that from Oct. 1, 2024, if payment is made within a five-day grace period, the motorist will not need to pay the S$10 administrative charge.

We made this suggestion in 2017: WP

Following the announcement, WP wrote in a Sep. 1 Facebook post that the suggestion to waive the admin fee was actually brought up by the party in 2017.

The post reproduced a January 2017 question raised by Aljunied GRC and WP Member of Parliament (MP) Faisal Manap in parliament.

Manap had asked whether motorists could be allowed to make payments for failed ERP deductions within a reasonable period of time "without incurring the administrative fee" or "incurring a less punitive fee".

Then-transport minister Khaw Boon Wan had replied that such motorists are required to pay these fees to cover the costs of processing the ERP violation, notification and payment.

He added that it would not be fair for taxpayers to bear these costs on their behalf.

It's not the same: LTA

LTA said in a Facebook post on Sep. 3 that the announced S$10 waiver is not the same as what WP proposed in 2017.

"We are not asking taxpayers to bear the administrative charges on a permanent basis," LTA wrote.

On Khaw's explanation, LTA said it "remains valid" as it is fairer for motorists who have ERP arrears to bear the administrative charges instead of the WP’s suggestion for taxpayers to bear these costs.

Will not incur admin costs for letters with ERP 2.0: LTA

LTA said the five-day grace period is now possible due to ERP 2.0's capabilities to detect, notify and facilitate the missed payments.

"With ERP2.0, LTA will no longer need to process and send letters to motorists if they make payment within the five-day grace period. Hence, we will not incur these administrative costs and do not need to impose the S$10 administrative charge on motorists who pay within the grace period." LTA wrote.

Their workflow has been redesigned as a result, LTA said.

From Oct. 1, 2024, LTA will first send a SMS notification for missed ERP payments, reminding them of the grace period.

If the missed payment is not made within this period, LTA will issue a letter to the motorist who must pay the missed payment, along with the S$10 administrative charge.

If the motorist fails to do so, a S$70 fine will be issued.

This will serve as a transitional arrangement while ERP2.0 installation is on-going, LTA noted in its post.

"We hope the above explanation clarifies the facts, and helps the public to understand what actually happened so they would not get confused by misleading claims," the statutory board concluded.

Top image from Google Maps & Workers' Party / Facebook