Singapore Area Licensing Scheme - Description of The ALS

Description of The ALS

A total of 34 overhead gantries were set up along the boundaries of the RZ, including the shopping areas of Orchard road. These gantries were monitored by auxiliary police officers who carried out visual checks and recorded any violations. Fines were stiff, S$70 then, and for obvious traffic management reasons, licences were not sold at the control points of the RZ. Users had to buy, in advance, a special paper licence at a cost of S$3 per day, which was sold at post offices, petrol stations, area licence sales booths or convenience stores, on a monthly or daily basis. This licence was displayed on the car windscreen or on the handle bars for motorcycles during hours of operation, initially, for entry between 7.30 am to 9.30 am daily, except on Sundays and public holidays, and very shortly had to be extended to 10.15 am, in order to control the surge of vehicles waiting to enter just after 9.30 am. In 1989, the evening peak had to be restricted too, and in 1994, the ALS was extended from 7.30 am to 6.30 pm.

At the early years of introduction, passenger cars having four or more occupants, taxis, public buses and service vehicles were allowed into the zone without charges. Carpool was exempted too, in order to better manage demand and to counter the charge that the scheme favoured only the rich. Special carpool pick-up points were set up. In 1989 more users were required to pay the fee, as motorcycles and heavy vehicles made up about two-thirds of the traffic entering the RZ. Hence, with this review of the policy, only buses and emergency vehicles were exempted. Later on exemptions for carpools was abolished, because many private cars were picking up bus commuters just to avoid the payment.

In 1980, the fee was increased to S$5, but in the 1989 review it was reduced back to S$3, considering that now more vehicles were paying. In 1994, two levels of licence fees were established, in order to differentiate between daily permits and inter-peak licences. The paper licences vary in shape depending on the class of vehicle, and colours change from one month to another to deter fraud. The colour-coded licences also made it easier for the enforcement personnel to identify the vehicles during the restricted hours. For reason of traffic management, violating vehicles were not stopped at the gantries, but their number plates were taken down and their owner would receive an order to appear in court to pay the fine. The control was made only at the gantries, therefore, vehicles were free to move around or leave the RZ without having to pay the fee.

ALS gantries were enforced by CISCO officers, who manually screen passing vehicles and book offending vehicles with fines. 105 such officers were deployed in the last days of the ALS prior to the implementation of Electronic Road Pricing, rendering manual checks obsolete.