The gantry along the expressway near the Eunos exit will be activated, charging $2 between 7am and 7.30am, and $1 between 7.30am and 8am.

It was one of six congested stretches of road identified this year but the only one with a gantry to go 'live', because the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has noted in its latest quarterly review that motorists' average speeds there have fallen below 45kmh.

Of the remaining five 'problem' locations, traffic speeds at four - Commonwealth Avenue, Jalan Bukit Merah, Alexandra Road and the west-bound Ayer Rajah Expressway - have improved, so ERP charges will be held off next month.

At the fifth location, Geylang Road, the LTA will look into changing the physical infrastructure of the area, such as widening the roads there, to improve traffic conditions.

Including the Eunos gantry, the PIE will have three gantries, the other two being on the westbound carriageway near Kallang Bahru and on the east-bound carriageway near Adam Road.

Traffic near Eunos, comprising mainly passenger cars and heavy vehicles, is noticeably heavy in the mornings. Even vehicles taking short jaunts from Simei to Paya Lebar use the highway.

It is understood that the ERP is aimed at getting these short-haulers to use alternative routes like Upper Changi Road.

A PIE user on a longer drive, such as from Bedok to Adam Road, between 7.30am and 8am, will pay $1 at Eunos and 50 cents at Kallang Bahru.

Civil servant Daniel Seet, 27, is planning to avoid payment by going to work an hour earlier. This is because the $1 he would have to pay for his Tampines-to-Novena trip starting at 7.30am would 'add up to a lot over time'.

'I have to time myself such that I reach the Eunos gantry before 7am, and the second gantry at Kallang Bahru before 7.30am.'

Saying that the LTA should consider other alternatives to congestion control rather than just add gantries, he suggested that it provide a list of alternative routes for motorists affected by ERP gantries.

The LTA has also decided to raise ERP rates by 50 cents between 6.30pm and 7.30pm at two locations - on the east-bound East Coast Parkway (ECP) at Marina South and on the slip road to the ECP from Ophir Road.

This will bring the ERP charges at these two points from $1 to $1.50 on Nov 3. Charges at all other gantries remain unchanged.

mariaa@sph.com.sg