Motorists can now get flash flood alerts on ERP on-board units
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The new feature adds to other real-time information available on the OBU.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
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SINGAPORE – Motorists who have the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) on-board units (OBUs) in their vehicles will now receive alerts about flash floods when approaching or travelling along affected roads.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced this in a Facebook post on June 30, adding that this feature will allow motorists to “take alternative routes”.
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, an LTA spokesperson said on July 1 that motorists will receive alerts when they are within a 3km radius of the affected roads.
The new feature adds to other real-time information available on the OBU, including parking availability in certain areas, bus lane operations and alerts on speed cameras.
Motorists said they welcome the new feature.
“I think it’ll be pretty helpful information. I’ll try to avoid that road if I see such warnings. Since it’s so convenient to look at the OBU screen while driving, any information it can provide to me is an added bonus,” account manager Jerome Lim, 35, told ST.
Mr Matthew Tan, 24, an executive, said: “It will be good to have alerts that warn me of a flash flood, especially if I’m driving on my normal route without using GPS apps. I hope that the alerts will sound out early enough so I can make the necessary detours.”
Flood alerts are also available on the myENV app and PUB’s Flood Alerts Telegram channel.
The next-generation satellite-based ERP system that comes with the OBU is also capable of charging motorists based on distance travelled.
In December, then Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said that the authorities were still at a very early stage of looking at different possible distance-based charging models.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority and LTA have plans to use the OBU for payments for roadside parking. LTA said it aims to roll out features such as allowing motorists to pay for missed ERP charges directly via the OBU display this year.
Payment of checkpoint tolls in Tuas and Woodlands, as well as for off-peak car licences, via the OBU, is expected to be rolled out upon completion of the device installation exercise.
As at July 1, more than 557,000 vehicles have been fitted with OBUs at more than 300 authorised workshops, said LTA. This means the installation exercise has crossed the halfway mark towards equipping the entire vehicle population of around one million units with OBUs by 2026.
Since the OBU installation exercise began in November 2023, about 300,000 cars have had the device installed. The proportion of these cars that had to be returned to the workshop for rectification of issues relating to the OBU or wiring fell from an average of 1.8 per cent in November 2023 to 1.3 per cent in May 2025.
