ERP admin charge waiver different from WP’s 2017 proposal

The recently announced waiver of the $10 administrative charge for motorists who miss their Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) payments from October is not the same as what the Workers’ Party (WP) proposed in Parliament in 2017, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Sept 3.

This is because it is not asking taxpayers to bear the administrative charges as the opposition party had suggested, LTA added on Facebook in response to a post that WP published on Sept 1.

The authorities announced on Aug 30 that the administrative charge levied on motorists who fail to pay ERP charges will be waived from Oct 1 if they settle their missed charges within a five-day grace period.

Published after LTA’s announcement of the waiver, WP’s Facebook post said the party had brought up the issue of the ERP administrative charge in Parliament in 2017.

Its post reproduced a parliamentary question posed by its Aljunied GRC MP Faisal Manap, who asked whether motorists could be allowed to pay for failed ERP deductions within a reasonable period without incurring the administrative fee, or pay a “less punitive fee”.

Responding, then Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said motorists are required to pay these fees to cover the costs of processing the ERP violation, notification and payment, and it would not be fair for taxpayers to bear these costs on their behalf.

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LTA said on Sept 3 that Mr Khaw’s explanation remains valid as it is “indeed fairer for motorists who have ERP arrears to bear the administrative charges instead of the WP’s suggestion for taxpayers to bear these costs”. But the authority stressed that the recent move is different from WP’s proposal.

At present, if a motorist fails to pay ERP charges, he will receive a letter from LTA within several days, and must settle the missed toll charge, along with the administrative charge.

The waiver of the administrative charge is possible in the future because the next-generation ERP system can detect and alert motorists to missed payments, and facilitate the payments, LTA said. This will remove the need to process and send letters to motorists who pay up within the five-day grace period and, hence, LTA will not incur these administrative costs, it said.

Installation of the ERP 2.0 system will wrap up by 2026.

In the interim, from October, LTA will send motorists SMS notifications instead of letters for missed ERP payments, thereby allowing the administrative charge waiver within the grace period.

LTA said on Sept 3: “We hope (our) explanation clarifies the facts, and helps the public to understand what actually happened, so they would not get confused by misleading claims.”