As a Singaporean working in Taiwan with cultural roots in Taiwan, perhaps, I am qualified to offer some of my opinion.
1. In Singapore, the reason why the Government can afford such high salary to its employee is because the Government is very good at making money. One of the reason was to offer high price of ownership to deter car ownership, which to some extent, it continues to fail (I will get back to you why I think it failed). Owning a car in Singapore with all fees attached is more than an apartment in Taiwan.
2. ETC works in Singapore because it is the only way to do so. You do not have a choice and you do not have an opportunity to offer any objection. Are you aware in Singapore, they are even cars that you can only drive in the evening! Or even only on Weekends!
3. ETC is the right way to go for Singapore as it has no space to put up toll station let alone the high cost of labor. I do believe ETC is the right way to do but I am confused with Taiwan Government latest policy, with 20KM free, it seems to encourage people to travel short distance using highway which is exactly the opposite. The goal should be at every gate/entry into highway, you start to pay and when you turn off the exist, you get the amount of charge to use this highway. The rate should be like 0.5NTD/km or lower. Yes, you will have to invest a huge amount of toll sensor across all gates/exit but you get to make the highway more efficient.
4. Everyone doubt Far Eastern Telecom but we all have to respect the Government decision. Unless there is evidence of corruption, we should not waste our time complaining things that would not solve the problem. I think if the Government choose to do this itself, the people will object to the high start-up cost and this would never took off.
5. In Singapore, owning a car is more presitge than owning a house. One of the reason I think that despite all effort to curb car ownership, the policy failed because, if you live in a small country (One Taiwan previous minister Mr Tang once commented, the size of Singapore is like a sxxt in the nose!), and with a far higher standard of living and salary, what would you do when you have free time in the weekend? Obviously, you want to take your family acorss the border to Malaysia and enjoy much cheaper petrol, food, shopping, hotel and perhaps even a refreshing trip up to the hills in Genting Highland near Kuala Lumpur. I think that luxury plus the sense of wanting to have a freedom (which to some extent, it is lacking in Singapore) was the reason for everyone to strive to own a car. Unless this inner desire is satisfied, I do not see the Government has any way of effectively curbing car ownership and to some extent, maybe the Government does not want to, because for every car ownership, they made huge profit and money!
The world is all about Money/Freedom/Rights to Speak Out. Taiwan is a great country. As times goes by, it will only become better and more matured.