SYNCHRONISING THE ELECTRONIC ROAD PRICING TIME

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for Communications whether the Land Transport Authority can synchronise the timer of the Electronic Road Pricing Scheme with that of the radio stations so that motorists can better plan their routes into the restricted areas.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is synchronised with SingTel time. It was chosen to give motorists the convenience of synchronising their time with SingTel's free "1711" enquiry service. This service is the primary source for obtaining the local time in Singapore and is available 24 hrs a day.

As the local radio stations obtain their time from different sources, it is not practical to synchronise the ERP system with any one radio station. This is because the time as announced by each radio station may differ slightly. Further, unlike the "1711" enquiry service which is available on demand, radio stations only report the time at set intervals, which may not include all the time points when ERP charges are changed. Nevertheless, we are looking into the feasibility of displaying the applicable ERP changes and/or time at the ERP gantries.