I read in the newspaper of the high rate of theft of cash cards from cars.
About two years back, I discussed with some senior people in LTA to allow car owners to opt to pay ERP charges through a monthly bill. This is similar to paying for telephone charges based on actual usage. It should be easy for the ERP gantry gates to identify the vehicles that have incurred ERP charges and bill the owners on a monthly bill.
This has the following advantages:
1. Reduce the time taken by the owner to top up the cash cards
2. Reduce the risk of theft of cash cards.
At that time, the LTA officials explained to me on why the concept was not feasible. (I do not agree with their view). As they were not keen to explore an alternative. I decided not to pursue the matter. With the high rate of theft of cash cards, perhaps LTA will now review this matter?
LTA should have spent substantially on this ERP technology, that was designed to read signals from cash cards. I believe they have not recovered the cost yet.
ReplyDeleteTo change the ways the signals are read (maybe by inputing a chip into the IU so that ERP bills can be collated and billed monthly), it will require further investments. Not only that, by changing, they would be admitting that the current practice is wrong and cause loss of face.
The London Congestion Charge can be paid by several means
ReplyDeleteDrivers may pay the charge via a website, by SMS text message, in shops equipped with a PayPoint, or by phone.[9] The charge may be paid the day after at an increased cost of £10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge#Payment