Singapore Area Licensing Scheme
Encyclopedia
The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme (ALS), (Malay : Skim Perlesenan Kawasan Singapura) introduced in 1975, charged drivers entering downtown Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, and thereby aimed to manage traffic demand. This was the first urban traffic congestion pricing
Congestion pricing
Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of a transport network in periods of peak demand to reduce traffic congestion. Examples include some toll-like road pricing fees, and higher peak charges for utilities, public transport and slots in canals and airports...

 scheme to be successfully implemented in the world. This scheme affected all roads entering a 6-square-kilometer area in the Central Business District (CBD
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

) called the "Restricted Zone" (RZ), later increased to 7.25 square kilometers in order to include areas that later became commercial in nature.

Background

The introduction of congestion pricing
Congestion pricing
Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of a transport network in periods of peak demand to reduce traffic congestion. Examples include some toll-like road pricing fees, and higher peak charges for utilities, public transport and slots in canals and airports...

 was one of a number of anti-congestion policies implemented in Singapore since the 1970s, in recognition of the country's land constraints, need of economic competitiveness, and to avoid the traffic gridlock that chokes many cities in the world. One key aspect of demand management in Singapore is the restraint of vehicle ownership, either through the imposition of high ownership costs or restriction on the actual growth of the car population. These measures have included high annual road tax, custom duties and vehicle registration fees. Besides fiscal deterrents, supply of motor vehicles was regulated since 1990, when a Vehicle Quota System was introduced. These high initial buy-in charges are considered as the price motorists pay for the luxury of owning a car and to cover part of the fixed costs associated with scaling basic road infrastructure. Then, use-related charges, such as fuel taxes (50% of final sale price), ALS or high parking rates are utilized by public authorities to further constraint travel. In parallel to the whole spectrum of road pricing
Road pricing
Road pricing is an economic concept regarding the various direct charges applied for the use of roads. The road charges includes fuel taxes, licence fees, parking taxes, tolls, and congestion charges, including those which may vary by time of day, by the specific road, or by the specific vehicle...

 measures, the government has invested heavily in public transportation and implemented a park-and-ride scheme, with thirteen fringe car parks, hence providing car users a real alternative to switch travel modes. In summary, Singapore's urban and transport strategy allowed the users to have pro-transit "carrots" matching auto-restraint "sticks", and as a result, despite having one of the highest per capita incomes in Asia, 32% of Singaporean households owned cars in 2010.

The ALS was first formulated and designed in 1973, under the leadership of a high level inter-ministerial committee, which recommended policies and measures to improve the urban transport situation back then. The ALS scheme was implemented only after a one-year public dialogue and some modifications were made based on the public's feedback. As detailed above, the ALS was sold as part of an overall package of road pricing measures and public transportation improvements that helped to gain public support.

Description of the ALS

A total of 34 overhead gantries were setup along the boundaries of the RZ, including the shopping areas of Orchard road. These gantries were monitored by auxiliary police officers who carried out visual checks and recorded any violations. Fines were stiff, S$ 70 then, and for obvious traffic management reasons, licenses were not sold at the control points of the RZ. Users had to buy, in advance, a special paper license at a cost of US$3 per day, which was sold at post offices, gas stations, area license sales booths or convenience stores, on a monthly or daily basis. This license was displayed on the car windshield or on the handle bars for motorcycles during hours of operation, initially, for entry between 7:30 am to 9:30 am daily, except on Sundays and holidays, and very shortly had to be extended to 10:15 am, in order to control the surge of vehicles waiting to enter just after 9:30 am. In 1989, the evening peak had to be restricted too, and in 1994, the ALS was extended from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm.

At the early years of introduction, passenger cars having four or more occupants, taxis, public transportation buses and service vehicles were allowed into the zone with out charges. Carpool
Carpool
Carpooling , is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car....

 was exempted too, in order to better manage demand and to counter the charge that the scheme favored only the rich. Special carpool pick-up points were set up. In 1989 more users were required to pay the fee, as motorcycles and heavy vehicles made up about two-thirds of the traffic entering the RZ. Hence, with this review of the policy, only buses and emergency vehicles were exempted. Later on exemptions for carpools was abolished, because many private cars were picking up bus commuters just to avoid the payment.

In 1980, the fee was increased to US$5, but in the 1989 review it was reduced back to US$3, considering that now more vehicles were paying. In 1994, two levels of license fees were established, in order to differentiate between daily permits and inter-peak licenses. The paper licenses vary in shape depending on the class of vehicle, and colors change from one month to another to deter fraud. The color-coded licenses also made it easier for the enforcement personnel to identify the vehicles during the restricted hours. For traffic management reason, violating vehicles were not stopped at the gantries, but their license number was taken down and their owner would receive an order to appear in court to pay the fine. The control was made only at the gantries, therefore, vehicles were free to move around or leave the RZ without having to pay the fee.

ALS gantries were enforced by CISCO officers, who manually screen passing vehicles and book offending vehicles with fines. 105 such officers were deployed in the last days of the ALS prior to the implementation of Electronic Road Pricing, rendering manual checks obsolete.

Impacts

From the statistics from The Journey - "Singapore's Land transport Story" the amount of traffic entering in June 1975, before ALS, was 32,500 vehicles into the Restricted Zone, and the after the enforcement of ALS in June 1975, the vehicle numbers drop to only 7,700, between the hours of 7.30 am to 9.30 am, an impressive 76% reduction; and 9% of the users switched to transit.
The use of transit for work related trips into the RZ "sharply increased from 33% before the ALS to about 70% by 1983".
In 1994 ALS was extended to a full day, resulting in an immediate 9.3% drop in traffic in and out the RZ.

The ALS, despite its simplicity, succeeded in effectively restraining congestion in the RZ for more than 20 years. Before the implementation of ALS and the other complementary measures, the motor vehicle fleet was growing at an annual rate of 6%, and in 1975 the traffic volume entering the RZ was about 100,000 vehicles. After the government intervention, the fleet slowed down to a moderate 4% rate of growth, and traffic entering the RZ was limited to only 230,000 vehicles in 1994.

Road Pricing Scheme (RPS) extended

In 1995, congestion pricing was also implemented in urban segments of three major freeways, starting with the East Coast Parkway (ECP). The (RPS), as it was called, also operated manually with paper licenses to enter the expressways. In 1997, the RPS was implemented in the Central Expressway and the Pan Island Expressway. After the implementation of RPS, the Central Expressway Average speed at peak hour went to 67 km/h from the previous average of 31 km/h. This extension was necessary because some through traffic was diverted by the ALS to routes that bypassed the RZ, increasing demand on these arterials and creating a need for expanding the capacity of the road network outside the RZ. Because of heavier demand, only the Central Expressway required a separate license, not valid for the RZ. During this time, a more modern system was being planned, in order to charge every time a user entered the RZ, and thus, charges would reflect the true cost of driving at congested times.

Upgrade to Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)

Overall, the ALS was successful in ensuring smooth traffic flow in the Central Business District. After about 10 years of planning and testing, in September 1998, the Area Licensing Scheme was terminated as Singapore upgraded to the current Electronic Road Pricing
Electronic Road Pricing
The Electronic Road Pricing scheme is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore to manage traffic by road pricing, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement system...

 system, which is completely automatic and allows passing the control gantries at normal speeds. The ERP system is still in use in Singapore, and many similar schemes were based on Singapore's ERP system, i.e.London Congestion Charge
London congestion charge
The London congestion charge is a fee charged for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times within the Congestion Charge Zone , a traffic area in London. The charge aims to reduce congestion, and raise investment funds for London's transport system...

, Edinburgh Congestion Charge etc.
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