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Guests at their wedding dinner at the Marina Mandarin arrived almost on time despite concerns that a new evening ERP charge of up to $2 would keep some away till 8pm.
Dr Jeffery Cutter, 45, in fact, paid $4 of ERP charges on top of his $7 cab fare to get from his workplace at Outram Road to the ballroom by 7.30pm. Although expensive, he said: 'You pay whatever so you don't keep the couple waiting.'
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) introduced five new gantries yesterday along the Singapore River from Clemenceau Avenue to Fullerton Road to minimise thoroughfare traffic from 6pm to 8pm.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao recently that the gantries were necessary for Singapore. Although they might increase costs for businesses, congestion has the bigger impact of turning away investors.
Through traffic has slowed down travel speeds along some roads like North Bridge Road and South Bridge Road from 25kmh in 2002 to 19kmh in May.
Yesterday, the LTA could not yet say how effective the gantries have been in increasing average speeds because data is still being calculated.
But The Straits Times' own checks with about 20 business operators and commuters showed that people were still going to the Singapore RiverLine area. Seven businesses reported no drop in customers.
Operations manager of Alps Cafe at Prinsep Street, Mr Reagan Shi, said: 'Most of our patrons are regulars who do not work nearby and we didn't see them staying away tonight.'
However, at Stamford Road, brand manager Liyana Johan of Baylene said the fashion boutique was empty from 6pm to 8pm, compared to the usual 10 or more customers during that time.
Hotels such as The Fullerton, Ritz-Carlton, Pan Pacific, Marina Mandarin and Fairmont hotels in the Marina Bay area all said they did not get any requests to change the timing of events to before or after the ERP kicked in.
Still, without official statistics, it is hard to tell if the gantries are doing what the Government wants. People are continuing to head to their destinations, but it is unclear if they are driving or opting for public transport.
The Government hopes it is the latter, and the signs are encouraging.
Public transport ridership went up 7 per cent in the first four months of the year from 4.4 million in 2007 to 4.7 million rides a day this year.
More premium buses have been added, while train and public buses now run more frequently to encourage higher public transport use.
A new SBS Transit bus service, which mirrors part of the north-south MRT line, also started operations yesterday, giving commuters an alternative to riding the train to town.
The operator said about 70 commuters took the bus on the first four morning trips.
'If we can convince someone who drives all the time to take public transport on two out of five trips, that is already an improvement. This is what we hope to achieve,' the minister said.
ERP rates also went up - between 50 cents and $1 - at gantries in the Central Business District during certain times in the day. Charging hours were extended to 8pm on weekdays. The effect of these charges were also being monitored by LTA.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SERENE LUO
