S$10 admin fee for missing ERP charge will be waived for motorists who pay within 5 days

SINGAPORE: A five-day grace period will kick in from Oct 1 for motorists who incur a S$10 administrative fee for missing an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charge, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in a statement on Friday (Aug 30). 
Currently, when a motorist fails to pay an ERP charge at the point of passing a gantry, they will receive a letter in a few days, requiring them to make the missed payment plus the S$10 (US$7.70) administrative charge.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat described the fee waiver as a “win-win” for all parties. 
“It is a win-win outcome, because for LTA, we save the trouble and we improve our productivity. We don’t have to process and send out the letters for the motorists,” he said. 
“Of course, I think I’m sure everyone will welcome the waiver of this admin fee.” 
The S$10 administrative charge has been in place since the inception of the ERP system in 1998. 
Mr Chee said that every year, about 500,000 such letters are sent, amounting to about S$5 million in administrative fees collected. 
He added that while it is true that LTA will not collect about S$5 million in fees a year, it is still a win-win situation. 
“We will also actually prefer not to incur the cost of sending out the letters in the first place, and to be able to use the resources that we have, the time, the manpower, to focus on other important areas of work,” said Mr Chee.  
“It is good for the government departments, and it’s also good for our citizens and our businesses,” he added. 
From Oct 1, motorists who miss an ERP payment will first receive an SMS notification from the LTA. 
They will then be given a five-day grace period from the date the SMS is sent to pay the missed ERP charge. 
If the missed ERP payment is not made within the grace period, LTA will issue a letter to the motorist, who must pay the missed ERP charge plus the S$10 fee. 
Failing which, a fine of $70 will be issued.
LTA said that motorists should keep their Singapore-registered mobile number updated on the Singpass website to ensure that they receive the SMS from LTA. 
LTA said that currently, the S$10 administrative charge is levied to cover the costs incurred by the authority to recover outstanding payments.
But with the rollout of ERP 2.0, Mr Chee said that there is now “a better way” to allow motorists to pay outstanding arrears without incurring an administrative cost. 
This is because the on-board unit (OBU) for the ERP 2.0 system is linked to the “backend system”, which allows motorists to view their arrears via the OBU display and make payments through it, said Mr Chee. 
“So in this way, it is more convenient for the motorists if there are any arrears they need to pay in future with the installation of ERP 2.0 … there’s no longer a need for us to send them a letter, and therefore there’s no longer a need for LTA to charge them the S$10 admin fee,” he said. 
LTA said that the new OBU feature will be rolled out from mid-2025 and more details will be shared when ready.
As to why the waiver applies to all vehicles. Mr Chee said that given most vehicles still don’t have the ERP 2.0 system, there is “no need to wait for ERP 2.0 to be fully installed”. 
“We can already start rolling out something from first October this year, which is an interim solution,” he said. 
He added that currently, about 100,000 motorists have installed ERP 2.0, which is about 10 per cent of the vehicle population, and that the installation for all vehicles is on track for completion by 2026.