One of the ways Singapore tries to control traffic congestion is the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme, where drivers have to pay a small sum to enter certain high-traffic areas. It’s a high-tech system, and all you need to do is to put your cash card into your in-vehicle unit, which automatically deducts the sum when it detects you have passed through a gantry. Before the ERP, drivers had to subscribe to the Area Licensing Scheme and purchase a monthly or daily car sticker that would allow you access into the restricted zone. However, there was one way to drive into the restricted zone without having to buy a sticker…

How would you get away with not buying an ALS sticket? Yg explains the concession:

however, there was one concession. if a private car carried four heads or more, it could enter the zone without paying. this also led to car-pooling, where certain points were designated for car-pool pick-up. i use the word ‘heads’ instead of passengers because that was what the cisco police, who were manning the gantry points, were instructed to do: count the number of heads in the car.

Well, Singaporeans are certainly an enterprising bunch:

as usual, the smart singaporeans tried to abuse this provision. private cars were picking up bus commuters just to avoid paying the fee. some tried to pass off a mannequin as one of the ‘heads’. this eventually led to the scrapping of the four passengers or more for free entry into the zone.

I suppose if this scheme was in place today, people would use inflatable dolls instead of mannequins – the latter certainly takes up space! Find out about the days of the Area Licensing Scheme and car pooling in ygblog.