Singapore is connected by over 9,500 lane-km of roads and expressways. LTA builds, manages and maintains this extensive road network and infrastructure. With roads occupying 12 per cent of our total land area, we take into account projected growth in existing and future areas when planning road use.
To achieve our vision of a car-lite nation, we prioritise movement for the masses, with priority lanes for buses and strive to improve first-and-last-mile connectivity to our public transport hubs.
LTA also manages vehicle ownership and usage to keep traffic flowing smoothly and efficiently.
Roads
Building & Maintaining Road Infrastructure
Our goal is to improve reliability and connectivity, while creating new connections to serve growing communities. Given our land constraints, expansion and improvements to existing roads will mainly support the movement of buses to enhance public transport experience. To bring us closer to achieving our car-lite vision, new infrastructure developments are integrated to support active mobility options such as cycling and walking.
To make our land transport system more inclusive and encourage Walk-Cycle-Ride as the main modes of transport, we will continue our efforts to enhance infrastructure – building covered linkways, lifts at pedestrian overhead bridges, integrated transport hubs and more.
Managing Vehicle Population & Traffic Flow
Traffic congestion is costly. It can result in the loss of productive hours, increased environmental pollution, wasted fuel and adverse health effects. LTA manages the vehicle population road usage with the following:
- Vehicle Quota System
The Vehicle Quota System (VQS) has regulated vehicle growth since 1990. Given Singapore’s land constraints and competing land-use, the annual vehicle growth rate has been gradually reduced over the years. We will continue to review the growth.
- Certificate of Entitlement
We may control the number of new vehicles allowed for registration, but the market determines the price of owning a vehicle. To register a new vehicle in Singapore, one must bid for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE). This gives them the right to own a vehicle for 10 years.
The vehicle quota calculation takes into account the following conditions:
- The number of de-registered vehicles
- The allowed growth in vehicle population
- Adjustments to account for changes in taxi population, temporary COEs that expired, and replacements under Early Turnover Scheme for commercial vehicles.
Besides various measures to manage vehicle growth and road usage, there is also LTA’s Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Centre. The ITS Centre plays a critical role in ensuring that our roads stay safe and keeps commuters informed about road incidents. It serves as a traffic management nerve centre that collects information from the ITS network. With traffic controllers monitoring the traffic flow round-the-clock, LTA is able to respond to and share this traffic information with motorists promptly.
During a traffic incident, traffic controllers promptly despatch recovery crews and LTA Traffic Marshals to manage traffic and reduce congestion. The Centre also coordinates with other agencies such as the Traffic Police and Singapore Civil Defence Force where necessary needed.
To help motorists plan and adjust their routes, the Centre also sends updates and travel time information via electronic signboards, the OneMotoring website and on Twitter/X.
ERP
Since 1998, the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system has been used to manage road congestion in Singapore. The ERP rates are regularly reviewed to keep traffic at an optimal speed range for road efficiency, depending on the road, traffic condition and time of day. In doing so, this pay-as-you-use system manages congestion by nudging motorists to change their mode of transport, route or time of travel.
The ERP system:
- Minimises traffic volume on heavily used roads in the Central Business District, the Orchard Road area, and major expressways.
- Ensures fairness by charging based on usage. Motorists who use roads more, pay more. Those who use roads less frequently or during off-peak hours pay less or not at all.
- Uses a convenient system that automatically deducts charges when vehicles pass through a gantry.
As the current ERP system is reaching end-of-life, it will be replaced by the new ERP 2.0. Using global navigation satellite system technology (GNSS), ERP 2.0 will facilitate more dynamic congestion management without physical gantries. It will provide better real-time insights into traffic conditions to support transport planning and traffic management. Through the ERP 2.0’s on-board units (OBU), motorists will also receive more information such as real-time road safety and traffic incident alerts, and be able to pay for roadside parking, usage licenses and checkpoint tolls. The new system is designed to integrate more functionalities over time, and can support various policy options, including distance-based charging. The rollout of ERP 2.0 on-board units is ongoing.
Read more about the ERP system, rates and gantries
Integrating Active Mobility Options for a Car-lite City
Given our land constraints and competing needs, it is not sustainable to continously expand our road network. The long-term solution is to encourage people to reduce reliance on cars and to use public transport, shared transport or active mobility options.
Walking, cycling and scooting around the city are healthier and more sustainable ways to communte. We can encourage this by creating a more conducive and pleasant environment to take up such transport options. LTA is the lead agency for active mobility (AM) policies, plans, infrastructure and initiatives.
Walking, cycling and scooting around the city are healthier and more sustainable ways to communte. We can encourage this by creating a more conducive and pleasant environment to take up such transport options. LTA is the lead agency for active mobility (AM) policies, plans, infrastructure and initiatives.
