Aside from the myriad blessings I glean from the graveyard shift, there's one oft-overlooked delight.
When I travel to work, the ERP gantries I drive under remain blissfully unlit. Ho ho.
The downside of it all, if there is a downside at all, is that I'm totally clueless when it comes to having to pay ERP charges.
So a couple of weeks ago, when I had the (mis)fortune of sending the wife to some convoluted seminar thingy in the morning, I was horrified to see (a) the sun, (b) a gazillion cars on the road and (c) a happily blinking ERP gantry sign.
(By the way, dear, if you're reading this, I love sending you to work in the morning).
During the trip, I saw, to my growing horror, the equivalent of a plate of chicken rice being deducted from my cashcard every time I went under one of those darn things.
It wasn't too long before I was praying the same prayer every unprepared Singaporean driver prays in the morning: Please Lord, let there be sufficient credit in my card.
Now I know why ERP charges are such a bugbear with drivers here.
We've all heard the official response to why we need so many gantries - control traffic, smooth flow etc.
And it does work. Just look at the KPE - 16 ERP gantries and they don't even need to be turned on for people not to use the 12km expressway!
But I think traffic congestion in Singapore has been dealt with in too Singaporean a way. Pay and pay. Always pay and pay.
Offer carrot instead of stick
We need a new approach.
Instead of the stick, offer the carrot. Incentives, rather than disincentives.
Have ERP gantries give credit instead of only deducting it.
So instead of charging motorists $1 at the Jalan Bahagia ERP gantry northbound on the CTE and then another dollar five minutes later at the PIE-Braddell Road gantry, reward those who get off the expressway and take the route less travelled.
Even better, instead of charging exorbitant rates at peak hours in the vain hope that it'll get drivers to head to work earlier (or later), give credit to drivers who go to work in the wee hours of the morning.
Business owners will thank you for it.
Imagine this scenario:
"Hey Ah Tan, what are you doing at work so early?"
"No lah, 6am to 6.30am ERP give me $2 mah, so I come in early lor."
How about going even further out of the box?
Change prices randomly
Have gantries randomly change prices (not unlike a roulette wheel) at differing times of the day, so motorists can try their luck at a 4-D-like ERP.
Only problem? Lottery-loving locals would probably clog up the roads even more.
Do this and Singaporeans won't greet the announcement of new ERP gantries with a groan.
Before long, I'm betting you'll have websites offering route planning programs that calculate road journeys that earn you money, instead of minimising how much you have to pay.
Who knows, this might have the added benefit of getting more people to actually use the KPE!
Oh, and have I mentioned that I work the night shift?
