Half of HDB car parks to use Electronic Parking System by first half of next year

SINGAPORE — As part of the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) efforts to better serve the needs of its residents, around half of its car parks here will be automated by the first half of next year, the HDB announced in a press release today (Dec 18).

The Electronic Parking System (EPS) will be extended from the current 610 car parks to 900 HDB car parks islandwide. Progressively, all suitable HDB car parks will be automated. For car parks where site constraints render the EPS infeasible, the HDB will harness other technologies to improve car park operations.

First rolled out in HDB car parks in 2004, the EPS has “proven to be convenient to motorists and effective in regulating parking demand, particularly at popular car parks with higher short-term parking demand”, the HDB said.

To optimise the use of parking spaces at its car parks, the HDB said it was also progressively putting in place an enhanced EPS. The enhanced system will see more parking spots being made available for visitors during the prescribed non-peak periods, while season-parking ticket-holders are out in the day. In the evening, however, there will be fewer available parking spaces for visitors to cater for season-parking ticket-holders when they return home.

So far, the enhanced EPS has been implemented at approximately 72 per cent — or 440 — of the 610 EPS car parks, with the remaining 170 EPS car parks to be progressively fitted with the improved system.

In July 2014, the HDB rolled out real-time information on the availability of parking spaces in HDB estates via its Mobile@HDB app to help motorists find short-term parking spots in EPS-equipped HDB car parks. Since Dec 15, information about the availability of parking spaces in HDB car parks has also been made available on the public data-sharing portal www.data.gov.sg.