The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore to manage traffic by way of road pricing, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement system. As of September 2026, only 33 ERP gantries are in operation, the currently operating and surviving gantries will be rebranded as "road charging zones" from January 2027.
The ERP was implemented by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 1 April 1998 to replace the preceding Singapore Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) that was first introduced on 11 August 1974 after successfully stress-testing the system with vehicles running at high speed. The system uses open road tolling; vehicles do not stop or slow down to pay tolls.Electronic Road Pricing. Land Transport Authority (Singapore)
Singapore was the first city in the world to implement an electronic road toll collection system for purposes of congestion pricing. Its use has inspired other cities around the world in adopting a similar system, particularly London's congestion charge zone (CCZ), Stockholm's congestion tax, and New York City's Central Business District Tolling Program. It has also been proposed in San Francisco.
The system Original system
The scheme consists of ERP gantries located at expressways where traffic was being built up during peak hours. The gantry system is actually a system of sensors on two gantries, one in front of the other. Cameras are also attached to the gantries to capture the rear license plate numbers of vehicles. No new gantries have been implemented since January 2016.
A device known as an In-vehicle Unit (IU) is affixed on the lower right corner of the front windscreen within sight of the driver, in which a stored-value card, the NETS CashCard, is inserted for payment of the road usage charges. The second generation IU accepts Contactless NETS FlashPay and EZ-Link. The cost of an IU is S$150. It is mandatory for all Singapore-registered vehicles to be fitted with an IU if they wish to use the priced roads.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd sold the IU technology to Singapore, and the project was spearheaded by a consortium comprising Philips Singapore Pte Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Miyoshi Electronic Corporation and CEI Systems and Engineering (now known as CSE Global Ltd.) in 1995 through an open tender.
When a vehicle equipped with an IU passes under an ERP gantry, a road usage charge is deducted from the CashCard in the IU. Sensors installed on the gantries communicate with the IU via a dedicated short-range communication system, and the deducted amount is displayed to the driver on an LCD screen of the IU.
ERP 2.0 system
The ERP 2.0 system is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based system, as opposed to the current system with physical gantries located along expressways, as well as roads and arterial roads leading to the CBD. With the new system, the ERP scheme will move towards a distance based charging policy, instead of the current system, where a fixed toll is charged when vehicles pass through a physical ERP gantry.
It is anticipated that there will no longer be any need for physical ERP gantries when the system is fully implemented and activated. After all the vehicles are installed with the new OBU, existing ERP gantries will be removed with new visual markers or signs to indicate ERP charging locations.
Current IU systems will be replaced by onboard units (OBUs) with one-piece units for motorcycles and three-piece units for other vehicles, due to the fact that the current IU system is not operable with the SimplyGo card system that was being introduced in 2017.
Co-developed by NCS Group and MHI Engine System, the Onboard Unit (OBU) will be rolled out in phases and the installation is slated to be completed by 2025. The OBU consists of three components for all vehicles, except for motorcycles, which will remain a one-piece unit.
The three-piece units consists of an antenna, processing unit and a touchscreen display. The antenna and touchscreen display will be affixed on the lower right corner of the front windscreen within sight of the driver, while the processing unit is located on the right side of the passenger side footwell for the three-piece unit.
The OBU is expected to have various features, including being able to display real-time traffic information, and facilitate couponless parking and automatic payment.
Vehicle owners can choose to not install the touchscreen display, but will be unable to adjust the volume of the OBU. Other features such as a future payment system that will be introduced to the OBU, live traffic data and updates, can be accessed via smartphone applications developed with software development kits released by LTA.
Road users are able to use Contactless e-Purse Application Specification (CEPAS) cards, which can inserted into the processing unit.
LTA announced that the distance-based charging policy will not be implemented in the near future, with no concrete date on when the new policy will take place. The current ERP charges will remain the same, with the OBUs able to work the same as the IUs when passing through a physical ERP gantry. The physical gantries will be removed in a 3-phase plan after the installation of OBUs is completed in all vehicles.
Installation of the OBU started in November 2023. After about one and a half year, more than half a million vehicles had been installed by June 2025. About 5,400 cars, almost two per cent of around 300,000 cars installed with OBU, had problems with their installed OBUs. The OBUs became unresponsive resulting in drivers unable to enter or exit car parks or pay road charges and subsequently the drivers have to return to the workshop to repair or replace the OBU.
From May 2026, new informative signs which is "ERP Charge Zone" and blue paved marking - "ERP" will be adopted.
Toll charges
The charge for passing through a gantry depends on the location and time. Foreign visitors driving foreign-registered private vehicles on priced roads, during the ERP operating hours, could choose to either rent an IU or pay a daily flat fee of S$5 regardless how many ERP gantries entered, the payment is done and information is stored by Autopass Card until the vehicle leaves Singapore. Foreign-registered commercial vehicles, however, are required to install an IU.
If a vehicle owner does not have sufficient value in their CashCard (or EZ-Link) when passing through an ERP, the owner receives a fine by post within two weeks. The violator must pay the ERP charges plus a $10 administration fee within two weeks of the notice. Online payment is allowed; listing just the Vehicle Registration Number is required. Otherwise, a penalty of S$70 is issued by registered post to the vehicle owner, which rises to S$1,000, or one month in jail, if not settled within 30 days.
Current ERP gantries (to be renamed to charging zones) are only located in:
AYE Zone (new name from 2027) AYE (between Jurong Town Hall Road and Clementi Avenue 6) AYE (Entrance from Clementi Avenue 6) AYE (Entrance from Clementi Avenue 2) AYE (between North Buona Vista Road and Clementi Road) CTE Zone (new name from 2027) CTE (after Jalan Bahagia) CTE (from PIE to Braddell Road) CTE (before Braddell Road) CTE (after Braddell Road) CTE (from PIE Entrance) CTE (from Moulmein Entrance) KPE Zone (new name from 2027) KPE (after Defu Flyover) MCE Zone (new name from 2027) MCE (after Prince Edward Road) PIE Zone (new name from 2027) PIE (between Adam Road and Stevens Road) PIE (after Kallang Bahru) PIE (between Bedok North Road and Eunos Link) Orchard Cordon [renamed to Orchard Zone from 2027]
From 23 March 2026 onwards, ERP rates will be increased by S$1 at four locations including: AYE after Jurong Town Hall towards City, AYE after North Buona Vista towards Tuas, Northbound CTE after PIE and KPE (ECP) after Defu Flyover. This will bring ERP rates up to S$4. The final ERP gantry to be up is at Orchard Road on 7 September 2026, and only Orchard Cordon is getting ERP gantries. Official dismantling of the ERP gantry at the Central Business District began on 15 August 2026 at Lim Teck Kim Road. Dismantling also begins at Merchant Road and Nicoll Highway by 28 September 2026.
History
ERP 1.0 A lightweight version of the ERP technology has been implemented for use on parking, and is known as the Electronic Parking System (EPS). It has been adopted by several carpark operators and has replaced the use of autopay tickets or parking coupons. These parking systems have also typically switched to charging by the minute.
In an effort to improve the pricing mechanism and to introduce real-time variable pricing, Singapore's Land Transport Authority, together with IBM, ran a pilot from December 2006 to April 2007, with a traffic estimation and prediction tool (TrEPS), which uses historical traffic data and real-time feeds with flow conditions from several sources, to predict the levels of congestion up to an hour in advance. By accurate estimating prevailing and emerging traffic conditions, this technology is expected to allow variable pricing, together with improved overall traffic management, including the provision of information in advance to alert drivers about conditions ahead, and the prices being charged at that moment.
This system integrates with the various LTA's traffic management existing systems, such as the Green Link Determining System (GLIDE), TrafficScan, Expressway Monitoring Advisory System (EMAS), Junction Electronic Eyes (J-Eyes), and the Electronic Road Pricing system. The pilot results were successful, showing overall prediction results above 85 percent of accuracy. Furthermore, when more data was available, during peak hours, average accuracy raised near or above 90 percent from 10 minutes up to 60 minutes predictions in the future.
During 2020, ERP was mostly suspended due to "circuit breaker" measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore.
In 2021, the LTA stated that the existing ERP system, which was about 22 years old at that time, was "reaching the end of its operational life".
During COVID-19, rate reviews were more frequent in February, April, May, August, September and November. After COVID-19, rate reviews were only reduced to February and August. ERP 2.0 According to a paper presented in the World Roads Conference 2006, the LTA had been testing a system based on the Global Positioning System that may eventually replace the current Electronic Road Pricing system. The proposed system was said to be able to overcome the inflexibility of having physical gantries, which "are not so flexible when it comes to re-locating them".
In 2010, then-Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced that a new ERP system was being considered and a tender for the new system would be announced later. Subsequently, a tender was called and in 2016, NCS and MHI Engine System were jointly awarded the contract to install the new ERP 2.0 system for S$556 million, which was less than ST Electronics's bid of S$1.2 billion. It was reported that the rollout of the new ERP system would begin in 2020. Then-Chief Executive of LTA stated at the time that the NCS-MHI bid "came within our budget" and was superior to ST Electronics', and he was confident that NCS-MHI would be able to "execute the project in a commercially-viable way" notwithstanding the large difference between the bids.
The ERP 2.0 system was said to replace the existing IU with a more sophisticated OBU the size of a smartphone with various features. The new OBU was intended to be able to provide real-time traffic information and alert drivers of toll roads and the associated charges well in advance.
In September 2020, the initial design of the OBU for vehicles other than motorcycles, such as cars, was criticised as being clunky, inelegant and bulky.