Reader's Response Draft 2

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According to Tay’s “Tapping Tech for Smoother Traffic” article (2018), Singapore faces the perpetual challenge of balancing density with liveability due to limited land. More advanced traffic management measures are required for Singapore to manage the increasing vehicle population and a greater and more complex road system. Tay also states that Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) launches The Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to process and gather data automatically. Not only does ITS boost traffic coordination and control, but it also gives real-time traffic information to assist users in smoother journeys. The implementation of ITS boosts Singapore’s traffic safety and efficiency and allows Singapore to top the 2017 Global Smart City Performance Index by Juniper Research. Moreover, transport technology in the city-state is constantly upgraded for better equity and efficiency with the improvement of traffic lights and satellite ERP system (Tay, 2018).

With the implementation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS), Singapore’s traffic flow and parking systems have become smoother, safer and more efficient.

For Land Transport Authority (LTA) to improve Singapore’s traffic flow, Intelligent Transport System, also known as ITS, was launched. “Over a 160km network of expressways and road tunnels, hundreds of gadgets, sensors and cameras gather data on traffic flow, travelling times and road demand to gives you the information that helps you make decisions on how you get to places.” (LTA, 2021). ITS makes use of sensors, traffic and control systems, and data analytics, to fully utilise the network efficiency capacity of the road, track and control traffic flow and make Singapore roads safer (LTA, 2021). Some of the developments under ITS would be Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System (EMAS), Green Link Determining System (GLIDE), Junction Electronic Eyes, Parking Guidance System, TrafficScan and Traffic Message Channel to provide instant traffic information to the public (LTA, 2021). On top of all these, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is one major development that happened in 1998 (Tay, 2018).

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) was invented to take the place of Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) (Tay, 2018). According to Sustainable Urban Transport (n.a.), ERP uses a continuous monitoring feature to recognise the vehicles going through its sensors, which are located on overhead gantries across the road. There will be an automatic deduction of tolls from smart cards fixed on each in-vehicle unit (IU) once a vehicle passes the ERP gantry. This ERP system saves the effort of vehicles slowing down or stopping to pay tolls and is able to capture vehicles at the speed of more than 120km/h. With this smart system, roads are less congested and the average speed of traffic has been increased from 30 to 35 km/h under ALS to 40 to 45 km/h under ERP (Debnath, Haque, Chin & Yuen, n.d.). Another smart technology system invented is the Expressway Monitoring Advisory System (EMAS). EMAS is a smart incident management tool, that oversees the traffic along the expressways. It recognises accidents, breakdown of vehicles and other incidents with the help of cameras. With EMAS, recovery crew is able to attend to the situation immediately to recover the traffic flow (LTA 2021). Statistics show that the road accident fatalities yearly have been reduced from approximately 210 in 2000, to 122 in 2017. Break down of vehicles are able to be resolved and clear out of the road within 15 minutes (Tay, 2018).

Parking Guidance System is also one of the developments under ITS. It provides information through 29 roadside electronic information panels, allowing motorists to know the carpark availability while driving (LTA, 2021). With the parking system, there is a decrease in the rate of circulating traffic looking for available parking in central business district and major shopping areas. This in turn reduces the traffic flow and time taken for vehicles to be parked (Debnath, Haque, Chin & Yuen, n.d.).  Motorists are able to make proper decisions and fully utilise the parking facilities (LTA, 2021).

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