SINGAPORE - New vehicles registered from May 1 will be pre-fitted with equipment for the next-generation ERP system and, at the same time, owners of existing motorcycles will be informed progressively to have their current in-vehicle units (IUs) replaced.
Installation of the new on-board units for existing motorcycles will start from June 1, and motorcycle owners do not have to pay for the installation if the fitting is done within a two-month period stipulated in their notification. Outside this period, it will cost these owners $35 for the installation.
Giving an update on March 28, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said owners of other existing Singapore-registered vehicles such as cars and lorries will be informed progressively to make their installation appointments from the second half of 2024.
According to LTA, more than 13,000 vehicles have been fitted with the new on-board units since November 2023, when the installation exercise for the equipment began with fleet vehicles. “Of these, around 75 per cent have been fleet vehicles, such as buses and motorcycles,” a spokesperson for LTA said.
Since January, all public buses in Singapore have been fitted with new on-board units, and since Feb 13, 1,300 newly registered motorcycles have been pre-fitted with the equipment.
While motorcycles get a single-piece hardware mounted on the handlebar, up to three pieces of hardware will be installed for other vehicles such as cars. They are the antenna, a processing unit, which incorporates the card reader, and a touchscreen display that drivers can opt out of if they prefer to use compatible smartphone applications.
The hardware comes with a five-year warranty. The identification number will be the same as the vehicle’s existing IU number, and details such as season parking information will be transferred over automatically.
The on-board unit is compatible with all existing Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and parking gantries.
LTA said in a statement that when vehicle owners are informed by post, e-mail or SMS, they will also receive a link to make an appointment online and choose their preferred workshop. Owners of vehicles other than motorcycles will get the three-piece on-board unit, and they can indicate if they want the touchscreen display fitted.
LTA said that the time needed for the installation will depend on a vehicle’s make, model and condition, as well as the selected workshop.
Generally, it will take around two hours for most motorcycles, and four hours for all other vehicles, but a longer time may be needed for some, according to LTA’s OneMotoring website. “On the day of the appointment, the workshop will assess your vehicle and advise you on the specific collection time.”
There were 143,983 motorcycles in Singapore as at February.
Motor dealers for car brands such as Lexus, Suzuki, Mazda and Toyota started installing the equipment in their company cars from February, as part of small-scale installations.
Mr Chong Ka Wei, a managing director overseeing the Mazda brand at distributor Trans Eurokars, said the company wanted to use the opportunity to familiarise itself with the installation of the equipment before the mass roll-out.
On average, he said, each installation took “not more than an hour”.
After the latest announcement on pre-fitting new cars with the units from May, Mr Chong said he would be fitting test-drive cars with the hardware, including the touchscreen display, to help customers decide how they want the on-board units to be installed in their vehicles.
LTA said sellers of new vehicles registered from May 1 will talk to prospective buyers about the installation options, such as where to place the processing unit and whether they want the touchscreen display.
LTA said it is making refinements to address feedback from early adopters of the on-board unit.
An upcoming improvement that it cited is a button on the touchscreen to temporarily deactivate a stored-value card used to pay for parking. This will allow drivers to use complimentary parking tickets without having to physically remove the card from the processing unit.
When it is ready to be launched, the feature will be rolled out by way of a wireless update to all on-board units with the touchscreen display.
The processing unit is typically installed at the passenger side of a vehicle’s cabin, making it harder for drivers to reach for their stored-value cards than with the present IU system.
The one-piece unit for motorcycles will not have the button feature added to the touchscreen, as riders can easily reach for their payment card, as is the case with the present IU, according to LTA.
System engineer Ryan Firman, 26, said he would not be rushing to send in his seven-year-old KTM Duke 390 motorcycle to be fitted with the new on-board unit.
His existing IU works fine, and he does not see the urgency to change it, he said.
The next-generation ERP system is based on satellite navigation technology and replaces the outgoing 25-year-old system. When it is fully rolled out, there will be no need to rely on physical gantries to run the ERP system.
