Land Transport Authority (LTA)

In keeping its long-term commitment to managing road use and reducing road congestion, LTA introduced the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, which charges motorists a fee to use toll roads during peak hours.

Today, ERP charges are paid using either a stored-value card inserted in an “in-vehicle unit” (IU) or a credit card payment system called MotorPay.

Wirecard’s innovative payment processing and reporting solutions support MotorPay, a service jointly provided by LTA and DBS Bank Ltd. (DBS) that enables motorists to pay ERP charges using their credit cards.

Before MotorPay was introduced, a stored-value card inserted into the IU of a vehicle was the only way to pay ERP charges. This stored-value card solution requires motorists to find a top-up kiosk and ensure that their card has sufficient funds before entering an ERP gantry. Consequently, it was widely regarded as being an inconvenient payment method.

Motorists frequently found themselves caught out, either not having a card to hand or insufficient funds being on their card. This meant that they might be liable for hefty traffic penalties in the long run.

LTA therefore had the idea of developing a solution which would allow drivers to pay ERP fees with their credit cards instead of a stored-value card.

Wirecard set up an ERP payment service for the LTA and DBS project. Here’s how it works: motorists subscribe to the service and, whenever they incur an ERP fee, it is billed to their credit card.

At the back end, Wirecard provides a complete system management facility that includes user management, reporting of ERP transactions, risk management, settlement and reconciliation services in addition to payment processing solutions.

At the same time, Wirecard manages the front end service of MotorPay’s website and its user registration services, which allow motorists to perform specific functions online, such as registering for a MotorPay account and accessing ERP transaction histories.

This project has facilitated an innovative e-payment method for the convenience of motorists. Using Wirecard’s credit card payment solution, the governmental organization and financial institution has made it possible for users to pay ERP charges via their credit card, thereby eliminating the inconvenience of needing to continually add credit to the stored-value card. This solution has also enabled LTA to offer motorists a broader range of e-payment channels and DBS to add innovative e-payment services to its existing portfolio of bill payment options.