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CAUGHT UNAWARES: Some, like this motorcyclist at Kallang Bahru, pulled over before the new gantry yesterday morning to look for his CashCard. -- LAU FOOK KONG
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REAL estate officer Leong Yoke Leng gained a few more minutes of sleep - and saved money too - yesterday morning, all because her employer ERA Realty said she could start work 15 minutes later, at 9.15am.
It was a gesture by the Toa Payoh Lorong 5 property agency to help its employees avoid having to pay the morning Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) fee at the new Toa Payoh gantry from yesterday.
Ms Leong, who lives in Yishun, had been paying $2.50 in ERP charges to use the Central Expressway. Yesterday, she would have been hit with another $1 charge.
But now, reporting to work later means she saves $2 out of the $2.50 charge as well.
'Multiply $3 by the number of days in a working year and that's a lot of savings,' said the assistant vice-president of ERA's administrative department, who is in her mid-30s.
Besides the Toa Payoh Lorong 6 gantry which went live yesterday, the others - which also have a $1 charge - are at Geylang Bahru, Kallang Bahru, Upper Boon Keng and Upper Bukit Timah.
The gantries in Toa Payoh, Geylang Bahru and Kallang Bahru operate from 8am to 9am; the one in Upper Bukit Timah, from 8am to 8.30am and the one in Upper Boon Keng, from 8.30am to 9am.
A handful of motorists, caught unawares at the Toa Payoh gantry, had to pull over to insert CashCards into their in-vehicle units.
A Straits Times check found that travelling speeds at 8.10am along the Kallang Bahru area and half an hour later along the Upper Boon Keng area remained the same as last week, before the gantries went into operation.
Traffic was smooth both yesterday and last Thursday, and a Straits Times reporter was able to drive at between 40kmh and 50kmh.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA), taking travel speeds at all five locations together, said these improved by between 8 and 25 per cent. Traffic was able to move at between 21kmh and 24kmh - within what it considered the optimal range of 20kmh to 30kmh.
Speeds at these five roads had fallen below optimal levels, so they were identified as locations for new gantries, LTA had said in January.
At Toa Payoh Lorong 6, speeds improved by 25 per cent; at Upper Boon Keng, by 13 per cent; at Upper Bukit Timah, by 12 per cent; and at Kallang Bahru and Geylang Bahru, by 8 per cent.
LTA also noted nine premium bus services were already running.
The latest batch of gantries is the last to be based on LTA's old method of congestion measurement, which is based on average speeds.
In November, six more gantries - in Commonwealth Avenue, Jalan Bukit Merah, Alexandra Road, Serangoon Road, Ayer Rajah Expressway and Pan-Island Expressway - will kick in. These will be based on the new method of congestion measurement, using a stricter criterion - that 85 per cent of motorists must be travelling at the optimal speed.
All these gantries will form an outer cordon around the Central Business District, which LTA hopes will reduce traffic into the city area.
A check with businesses in the areas around the newest gantries was inconclusive yesterday because most wet market stalls are closed on Mondays.
But confectionery owner S.J. Chua, 58, in Toa Payoh Lorong 8, said he had fewer than 20 customers between 6am and 11am, down from the usual 20 to 30.
'They cannot remove ERP gantries, but maybe they can offer free parking to customers who visit this area,' he suggested.
mariaa@sph.com.sg
ghimlay@sph.com.sg
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