Sep 30, 2006
WORLD ROADS CONFERENCE
Distance-based ERP system likely here
This will be more accurate as those who cover more distance will be
adding more to congestion
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
CONGESTION pricing took centrestage at the World Roads Conference,
with the auditorium packed whenever papers on the subject were
presented.
At the opening session on Wednesday, 250 participants from 20
countries who congregated at the Singapore Expo learnt of how the
fate of a road-pricing plan in Stockholm hangs in the balance
because of politics and bureaucracy.
And at the closing session yesterday, Mr Jay Walder of Transport
for London - the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) equivalent -
shared London's success story.
London and Singapore - the pioneers of congestion pricing - are now
working on the next generation of systems. The excitement here
centres on satellite-based technology, which not only has limitless
'scalability', but also offers applications that go far beyond
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP).
Unlike physical toll booths, gantries or London's camera-reliant
system, an eye-in-the-sky method, allows any government to price
any stretch of any road with charges that correspond with actual
traffic conditions. It also allows finer categorisation of
users.
For instance, the German truck toll system - the world's first
large-scale application of satellite-tracked road pricing - varies
levies according to vehicle weight and size, emission standard and
distance covered.
Distance-based charging looks likely when Singapore implements the
next generation of ERP. It is a more accurate system, as vehicles
which currently enter the Restricted Zone and drive around (like
taxis and commercial vehicles) contribute more to congestion than
the office worker who drives in and parks his car for 10 hours or
so.
And if environmental concerns come to the fore, the in-vehicle unit
can be hooked up to the car's computer to start charging the moment
the engine is started. So people who sit in their cars reading the
papers with the engine running and the air-conditioner on could
forgo more than wasted fuel.
Indeed, the LTA yesterday presented a new IU that can be used to
charge for street-side parking. How this exactly works and when the
new unit will be launched is still up in the air, but the device
will be smarter (and smaller) than the current IU. It will show
both the charge and the balance, and it can automatically top up
when it detects a card is low on funds.
The potential is nearly limitless.
In Europe, traffic management company Satellic has tied up with an
insurer to test a motor insurance that varies its premium according
to the way the policyholder drives.
'The faster you go, the more you pay,' quipped Satellic business
development director Klaus Albert, adding that the trial has been
quite successful and is closely watched by the industry.
The possibilities of pay-as-you- drive - which is the basic tenet
of congestion-pricing - are infinite with satellite technology
(backed up with plenty of smart software). But how will such
sophisticated applications go down with end-users? There will be
concerns that the system could be turned into the ultimate policing
tool. And what implications would such an intrusive concept have on
privacy?
Vendors said security measures can be put in place to prevent
information leakage, or data can be stored by a neutral third
party, or the IU can be fitted with an 'off' button which when
activated imposes a stiff charge but renders the user
untrackable.
But Mr Bernard Lamy, who is with French transport systems group
Thales, said that while measures can be put in place, 'somebody
still has access to the information'.
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