SINGAPORE: Singapore motorists may soon have one less app to tap before heading off. Starting in August, about 1,000 drivers will test a new roadside electronic parking (REP) feature under Singapore’s ERP 2 system.

The trial will cover 644 designated car park locations and around 19,000 roadside parking lots nationwide, according to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), cited by Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

The feature allows motorists to start and pay for roadside parking directly through their ERP 2 on-board unit (OBU) touchscreen display, removing the need to open the Parking.sg app for participating locations.

How to activate a parking session

Drivers taking part in the trial will see a parking icon “P” appear on their OBU display once the feature is activated. After parking, motorists can tap the icon to begin a parking session.

Drivers can also start a parking session through a prompt that appears after the vehicle engine is switched off.

Where only one designated car park is detected, the system will display a single option. If several nearby car parks are detected, drivers must select the correct location before confirming the parking session.

LTA said confirmation is still required to ensure motorists intend to park and to help apply charges accurately. Once activated, the system will display a parking status notification, “parking in progress,” before automatically shutting down.

No longer need to guess the parking duration or manually end the parking session

One of the biggest changes is how parking sessions end. Instead of manually stopping or extending parking time, the REP system automatically ends the session when the vehicle leaves the car park.

Parking charges are then automatically calculated and deducted from the motorist’s selected ...