SINGAPORE: Company vehicles will be the first to get the new on-board unit (OBU) required for the ERP 2.0 system when the Land Transport Authority (LTA) rolls out its installation from Nov 1.
These vehicles include buses, goods vehicles, taxis and motorcycles that are registered to an organisation.
The new Electronic Road Pricing system, known as ERP 2.0, will be satellite-based and can detect whether a vehicle is in a congested area.
While ERP 2.0 has the capability to support distance-based charging through its global navigation satellite system, LTA said on Monday (Oct 23) that it has “no immediate plans” to introduce distance-based charging.
Every OBU will comprise three components: A processing unit, an antenna and a touchscreen display. For motorcycles, these three components will be integrated into a single-piece unit.
Having taken in public feedback, LTA noted that motorists can opt out of installing the touchscreen display, the agency said in a press release.
Some motorists had complained that the new unit would be too bulky and inelegant when the design was first announced in 2020.
Related:
Want to opt out of ERP 2.0's touchscreen display? Here's what it will mean for you
TOUCHSCREEN DISPLAY OPTIONAL, BUT “STRONGLY ENCOURAGED”
All Singapore-registered vehicles must have the new OBU installed.
Motorists are “strongly encouraged” to install all three OBU components to access the “full range of features”, such as paying for roadside parking, said LTA.
However, motorists who wish to opt out of installing the touchscreen display will still be able to access key OBU information via compatible mobile applications on their smartphones instead. Such applications include LTA’s ERP 2.0 app or other third-party apps listed on LTA’s OneMotoring site.
To help developers create apps that integrate and display ERP 2.0 data, while maintaining “strict security safeguards” on such data, LTA has also released a software development kit.
Mobile apps will display such information from the OBU: Road pricing alerts, charging information, information about payment status, traffic information, card balance and status, and backend payment account indicator.