Was on the bus, watching TV Mobile which was time for news. Something that will perk ALL drivers in Singapore - There's a ... 4 cents discount on petrol.
However, it appears that this deduction did nothing to sayang the hearts of the drivers, ever since the price of petrol started skyrocketing last year.
Noteworthy comment that i've seen and heard on News:
We don't know how true this statement will be made flesh within the next 2 weeks to a month, but u can feel that this will really happen, as in comparison to further deductions.
And, if u haven't noticed, the ERP rates went up - AGAIN!
A taxi ride from my home to office used to cost like $16, now, has become $19 dollars. That gantry outside Cathay increased by a whooping $1. Is that crazy or what?? How true to say that ERP stands for "Every Road (in CBD and around CBD) Pay".
Click here for the price to pay for individual gantries at a given time.
Now, before we keep on ranting about ERP, there are AIMS and Benefits that LTA wanna educate all motorists.
AIM
To allow motorists to be more aware of the true cost of driving.
All drivers already know how much the true cost of driving is, including:
- Instalments for the car
- Petrol (ever increasing, with minimal deductions)
- Road Tax
- Insurance
- Car park
- Maintenance of car
- Summons/fines [if necessary]
- Diesel Tax (if you are a taxi-driver)
- topping up your Cashcard so that you wouldn't kena fine for crossing the gantry.
= at least one-third of your salary gone.
And if that's not bad enough, the ERP make motorists pay even more.
Yes, roads are optimized, but the traffic slows down even more wherever a gantry is nearby. Which leads to wasting more time, energy (honking at the vehicles in front to "move on, lah".), emotional quotient (especially when people are running late) at the busiest of both peak hours.
Yah, I know the true cost of driving. Blardy expensive.
Benefits of ERP
A) Fair - Is it fair for us commuters to pay $2.00/$2.50/$3.00 to enter a gantry not by our choice, despite using a public transport (the Taxis) as encouraged? We may not have caused a jam, but we are still 'penalized' for it?
Note: Heard it somewhere that one aim of the ERP is to reduce the number of vehicles on roads, and encourage the public to take the PUBLIC TRANSPORT?
B) Convenient - I have to irritate lotsa taxi-drivers to drive in weird direction to avoid the gantry. How "Convenient" it is for Taxi-drivers to give me strange looks and trying to 'preach' the correct direction to me.
C) Reliable - Thanks to Technology. Don't remember if there's ever an error on the system. (At least, Not yet)
I seriously think that the ERP price is getting a bit way out of hand. I shudder to think the next time i take a cab especially to work. And i hasn't even got to the 35% fare hike during peak hours.
Seriously, if u want to encourage people to use the public transport, don't allow bids for Certificate of Entitlement, which will make people to have no choice but to take the public transport.
Does 4 cents really make a lot of difference? Yes, only when u buy in tens or hundreds of litres, the price difference is in terms of cents to a few dollars.
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