My car pass a ERP gantry point with the ERP card not properly inserted. I discovered it immediately and called to inform LTA. They said, "wait for the notice".
The ERP notice came one week later. The ERP fee was $1 and the fine was $10. I wonder why the LTA refused to collect the $1 from me, when I found the mistake. They wanted to impose the fine of $10 for the oversight. This is inconsiderate. They government wants to make a profit from an honest mistake!
I am aware that the LTA did have some administrative work to print and mail the notice. But this is work that they create for themselves under their system. If they have a friendlier system, they could have taken my report and notify the computer that the matter was settled. But, the LTA preferred to follow their own procedure, for their own convenience, and impost a cost on the citizens.
I hope that our government leaders and civil servants realize that they have to treat the people fairly and not impose a burden on them.
Tan Kin Lian
Systems exist to serve the people, not to enslave them....
ReplyDeleteTalk about doing things faster/ better/ cheaper ! Just talk. This is one good suggestion for the Authority to consider. If they can do the internet update for Off-Peak Car -which incidentally, to my cynical mind is a trap, why not offer a similar solution ?
ReplyDeleteya i also kena before. Like u i also called them up on same day and got the same robotic reply.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of punitive uncaring garment we have under the pap. Their own people in white make mistakes due to incompetence and complacency they explain it away as honest mistakes and what not, but when citizens make genuine honest mistake they punish u. Fark them!
It's not really an honest mistake - that's an opinion. It's the card not properly put in - fact.
ReplyDeleteImagine hundreds or thousands of people calling LTA about this issue.
Mr. Tan,
ReplyDeleteNot too long ago such an act of an improperly placed (or unplaced) ERP card was considered a criminal offence and liable for a court date. The LTA then had (wrongly) assumed that users were intent on avoiding paying the ERP charges and thereby cheating the authorities, ie, "guilty before being proven innocent". The current administrative fee of $10 is still unfair to innocent mistakes, but not painful enough (to the wallet) for most people to raise a ruckus (till now, of course!). The stance of the authorities is clear - whether the act of an improperly placed (or unplaced) ERP card was intentional or an innocent mistake, just pay the administrative fee plus the ERP charge. And the cost of administering this system remains in the black...
Hi Mr Tan,
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me recently as well.
However, this is just a system they put in place for all cases where people forgot or did not insert their card properly and the administrative charge is applicable for all cases.
To be fair, I cannot think of any cases where it will be a fine. No one will be able to blatently go through ERP thinking that there is a chance that you won't be caught, and thus its always forgetting to insert cash card or its not properly inserted, always an administrative error.
What do you think?
I consider the $10 to be a fine and not an administration fee. LTA may give it their own name, by it is a fine to the citizen.
ReplyDeleteA fine is imposed as a punishment for an offence. An administration fee is imposed to a customer who pays it willing to get a service.
When a bank imposes an exorbitant fee of $50 for a late payment or a bounced cheque, they are imposing a fine (which they are not really authorized by law) and not an administration fee.
Things are getting out of hand. One day, IRAS will impose an administration fee of $500 to handle your income tax!
You can write in to appeal, saying that your card was not properly inserted. Most probably the appeal will be approved.
ReplyDeleteI made a complaint to a public service department.
ReplyDelete3 different officers gave totally incoherent replies about a bad decision and grave mistake they made. They then sought to dismiss their responsibility and asked me to solve it myself.
Not only I had to initially pay a hefty fee to this public body, the bad decisions also caused me to incur greater costs elsewhere.
After making at least 3 complaints to the ministries above it, they just replied me "We have no more comments to add " ... the objective was to push away responsibility internally. The higher authorities just remained silent.
The worst is that the proper procedures and final result for me requires this public body to make the right and fair decisions, or else there is no recourse for me.
This is easily resolved by allowing payment of the actual ERP charges, say within three days, via internet or payment kiosts. A small administrative fee may be levied. The technology is already there for this to be done. However, this method is less profitable for the authorities and kills their cash cow.
ReplyDeleteI believe technology exists today that can debit an account based on your in-vehicle unit ID for the $1, which can then be deducted from your cashcard the next time you pass a gantry. Should you keep accumulating and fail to pay, your road tax cannot be renewed or your car will impounded. All can done with existing machine and maybe a little programming. But no more easy money for the government.
ReplyDeleteThe administrative fee for purchasing movie tickets is $0 in person and $1 online.
ReplyDeleteThe administrative fee for paying ERP charges is $10 in person, and $8 online.
Obviously a money spinner for the government, and not to cover administrative costs. If that amount is really used to cover administrative costs, then, they have a very inefficient payment system.
I forget to put in my cashcard for a $1 erp charge, and received $11 "fine".
ReplyDeleteSimilarly I called LTA to ask for how I can pay for the ERP charge on the day when I committed the "offence".
Answer: "No. You cannot do anything but to wait for the letter."
I got the letter today and wrote in my appeal using the onemotoring web site.
To my further suprise, LTA will need 1 WHOLE MONTH to investigate a $1 ERP case!!!???
I think we have better way to this, and it does not take a genius to know the problem of this.
I hope that LTA will not just sit of all these problems... they will not be resolved by itself.... Total waste of tax payers' money.