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SINGAPORE: The full impact of the extensive ERP changes announced on Tuesday is beginning to sink in for many motorists and businessmen in the Central Business District (CBD).
Many feel they do not have much option but to prepare to pay more.
Come July 7, many motorists who travel frequently into the CBD will have to pay at least double of what they are paying now in ERP charges - from S$2 a day to an expected S$4 or S$5.
Multiply that by at least 20 days of work and workers are definitely going to feel the pinch.
Medical Sales Representative Muhammad Shamir said: "If I want to avoid Esplanade Drive, I can head north and use the CTE but if I'm not mistaken, there's also another gantry there and it might be more expensive. The road to exit the PIE may be more congested, so that's the difficulty I face."
Going home is another problem.
"Maybe I can go home later in the evening (to avoid the ERP), that's one option because there's not much that I can do since there's no other way from my office to Tampines," he said.
Other motorists have mixed concerns.
"Every day, I have to travel out to go to Tuas and back to my office, and every time I have to pass through one of the gantries," one said.
"For those of us who travel, we'll of course find the shortest way to go. If we go the long way, we will incur more petrol costs. So in the end, drivers are losing out," another added.
In an email response to Channel NewsAsia, the Automobile Association of Singapore reiterated its view that the introduction of more ERP gantries and increasing ERP charges may not help to alleviate traffic congestion and slow-moving traffic.
The association maintains that the authorities should allow more time for the proposed changes to the public transport system and the effects of its recent enhancements to kick in and stabilise, before reassessing the whole situation.
Taxi drivers make up a big group of those who will be affected by the new ERP landscape. Some taxi associations have announced different measures to help their drivers, but there is still some concern on the ground.
One taxi driver said: "The intention is good, but if we are going back into the area and my cab is empty, I'll have to pay for the charges myself, so that's quite a burden."
Meanwhile, public transport operators SMRT and Comfort DelGro are doing their bit to make it easier for commuters to get to the city.
From June 30, SMRT will add two new premium bus services to take passengers from residential areas like Woodlands and Bishan to the city.
On the same day, SBS Transit will roll out six new premium services. The company will also enhance eight other bus services along the ERP corridor.
- CNA/so
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