Traffic Policy

The ALS was introduced in 1975 and was successful in controlling the flow of traffic in Singapore.

Motorist have to pay for use of certain roads, especially the Central Business District.

Motorist had to buyALS labels to enter the restricted zone and gantries were set up to monitor this.

A lot of cost were involved as this system was labours intensive.

However, it was very successful in decreasing the number of vehicles enter the CBD during peak hours.

The VQS was introduced when there was a sharp increase in car ownership as people became more affluent in 1990s.

It was a way to control the number of new vehicles and it also means that cars over 10 years old ware taken of the road.

Using the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system, a specific number of new cars are put on the roads based on the quota setby the Land Transport Authotrity (LTA).

Car buyers must bid for the COE before they can purchase a car.

The COE only entitles the motorist to own a car for 10 years.

The ERP has replaced the ALS in 1998 as although the ALS was effective in controlling traffic flow, it was not cost-effective.

So, the ERP uses up-to-date technology to enable the transport system to stay relevant with times.

Technology is used to monitor and regulate traffic flow.

Motorist have to pay to use certain roadsm expressways and driving into the city at certain times of the day.

In this way, peak hour traffic has been successfully controlled.

The Park-and-Ride-Scheme was also introduced to control the traffic flow in the CBD.

Under this scheme, motorist could park their vehicles at specfic car parks which were outside the city area.

From these car parks, they could use public transport to enter the city area.

This meant fewer vehicles would enter the CBD.

However, it was not successful. Motorist simply switched to the regular bus service of they drove into the CBD before the ALS time of 7.30am.

They did not think it was worthwhile to leave their cars parked outside the city all day.

This was a serious oversight because millions of dollars in the Park-and-Ride-Scheme.