Motorists who evade tolls and other fees at the Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints will face stiffer penalties from next month.
The authorities are also looking into barring foreign vehicles with unpaid fines, tolls and fees from entering and exiting Singapore.
Announcing this yesterday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) told The Sunday Times that there is an average of about 2200 cases every month of motorists passing through the checkpoints without paying their tolls and fees.
The fees include Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fees and fixed Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) fees.
The Sunday Times understands that while payment machines are placed at the immigration clearance booths, some motorists fail to pay the tolls and fees with their stored value cards – either unknowingly or deliberately.
To combat this, a composition sum of $50 for motorists who evade the tolls and fees will be introduced from Aug 1. Repeat offenders will face fines of $100.
Currently, only a $10 administrative fee is levied when motorists are caught.
Additionally, motorists who do not pay the composition sum and who are then charged for toll and fee evasion can be fined up to $1000 upon conviction, or jailed up to three months for the first offence.
Besides the tougher penalties, the LTA said that more officers have been deployed to step up inspections since May. Additional signs have been put up to remind motorists to pay their tolls and fees.
In a press statement yesterday, the LTA also said that a significant number of those who evade tolls and fees are foreign motorists, who are difficult to track down after they have left Singapore.
It said it is “considering the possibility of amending the Road Traffic Act to prohibit the entry and exit of foreign vehicles with unpaid tolls, fees, taxes, penalties or composition sums payable or due”.
Checkpoint tolls apply to both Singapore and foreign-registered vehicles. At Woodlands, cars pay a $3.80 toll for departing and $2.70 on arrival. The toll is $3.20 each for both entry and exit at Tuas.
Foreign-registered cars and motorcycles are required to pay VEP fees for each day the vehicles are kept or used in Singapore. In general, a $35 per day fee applies for cars and $4 for motorcycles between 2am and 5pm, Mondays to Fridays.
Malaysia is currently conducting a trial for its own VEP system for Singapore-registered cars, which when implemented, will levy a RM20 (S$6.70) fee.
(Related: Travellers without papers adding to Causeway jams)
(Related: An app to help you beat Causeway jams)
