ERPs, they are everywhere!

Long long time ago... someone came out with the idea of limiting the number of cars on the road with the COE system.

The Certificate of Entitlement (COE), instituted by the government of Singapore, is a program designed to limit car ownership, and hence, the number of vehicles on the country's roads. This system, in effect, requires residents of Singapore to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted.

But now... ERP System

The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) (Malay: Sistem Kadar Jalan Elektronik; Chinese: 电子道路收费系统) 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. The ERP was implemented by the Land Transport Authority in September 1998 ^[1] to replace the Singapore Area Licensing Scheme ^[2] after successfully stress-testing the system with speeding Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris. Singapore was the first city in the world to implement an electronic road toll collection system for purposes of congestion pricing.^[3]

Somehow, I cannot help but to feel that neither of the systems is really working and somehow... I find that it's starting to become a tool for generating income than to solve traffic problems.

See the number of ERPs!
http://www.oneshift.com/maps/

A simple equation.
If traffic speed gets below certain levels... = ERP Gantry.

Since there is an ERP Gantry there... people will start using other roads... causing that road to be jammed / slow down... So... to speed the traffic up... ERP Gantry.

Sigh...

With the sky rocketing prices of fuel.......

To drive or not to drive??

Is driving soon going to become something that only the rich can afford??