Mechanised parking to pilot in Bukit Panjang, Yishun and Changi Village
SINGAPORE — Residents in Bukit Panjang, Yishun and Changi Village can look forward to a mechanised parking system in their estates in 2015, with the launch of a pilot programme designed to ease the car park crunch in older Housing and Development Board (HDB) towns.
SINGAPORE — Residents in Bukit Panjang, Yishun and Changi Village can look forward to a mechanised parking system in their estates in 2015, with the launch of a pilot programme designed to ease the car park crunch in older Housing and Development Board (HDB) towns.
The car parks are beside Block 259A Bangkit Road and Block 666A Yishun Avenue 4, and behind Block 1 Changi Village Road.
Dr Lee Bee Wah, the Government Parliamentary Committee Chairman for National Development, announced this during a site visit to the proposed area at Bangkit Road yesterday.
In January 2012, she had initiated a study on the viability of mechanised parking in HDB estates to address car park shortage in older towns, where there is limited space to build more lots.
The study team evaluated different mechanised parking technologies and looked into potential implementation issues, such as residents’ acceptance, retrieval time and management of breakdowns.
The team visited commercial and private residential developments which have already implemented mechanised car parking systems to learn from their experience.
It also studied experiences in Japan and South Korea, two countries which use such systems extensively.
However, due to its more complex design, the cost of installing and maintaining mechanised parking is higher than that for multi-storey or surface car parking.
Dr Lee said: “This is an additional option, it will be used only when a multi-storey car park, surface car park is not feasible, then we will look into this mechanised parking system.
“Because of its cost and this being the pilot project, we have to study it in detail. We want to address the concerns of users -- in particular residents are very concerned about reliability, whether it will break down and how fast is the response time.
“The other is cost, residents are worried it will cost more. For the first batch, it will definitely be at the same price, so residents will not pay more.”
As such, the study team recommended that HDB pilot mechanised parking selectively - within estates that experience parking shortages and where there are no other alternatives.
The HDB said the three sites identified have very high demand for parking and a shortage of lots.
However, due to site constraints, it is not possible for HDB to add more lots by building more surface car parks or constructing multi-storey car parks.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, MP for Bukit Panjang, said: “”Over the weekend, we can see a lot of cars coming over here. I won’t say it is very, very chronic, but yes, there is a shortage of carparks over here.
“We are expecting a growth in demand in the future, with the hawker centre being ready by 2015, because the town centre serves the whole of Bukit Panjang and many residents of Chua Chu Kang and Bukit Timah come here.”
While residents welcomed the project, they also had some concerns.
Bukit Panjang resident Pung Whei Meng said: “It is good for season parking users and for the younger people to use as it is more electronically-based. But for older citizens, there may be some issues. (They should) have some guidance during the initial launch.
“Sometimes electronic things will break down, and if that happens people will panic and may get frustrated. It is important that this goes through and everything that needs to be done is done.”
The HDB said it will be installing the “tower parking system” for car parks at Bangkit Road and Yishun Avenue 4, and the “cart system” in the car park at Changi Village Road.
The project is estimated to be completed by end-2015.
The HDB added that as this is a pilot study, the parking charges for the mechanised parking system will be the same as existing car parks.
Writing on his blog, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the pilot programme will allow HDB to gauge public acceptance of the system.
Channel NewsAsia