<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Upgrade carpark systems to end guessing game
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE is renowned as a 'fine' city for imposing penalties for offences ranging from killer litter to feeding monkeys. But one penalty that is surely unnecessary is the fine for displaying insufficient parking coupons.
I understand that carpark ticket monitoring is tendered out to private companies, which also set targets in terms of number of fines issued. This then translates into a hawk-like attitude in the issuing of summonses for drivers who park beyond the time stipulated on the coupons.
What saddens me is that a country that created the world's first Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is unable to ensure the simple installation of automatic CashCard parking in popular carparks.
One example is the one near East Coast Park hawker centre, which has fewer than 100 lots. Many families who spend time at the beach may be delayed by their children or long queues at the hawker centre only to get back to their car and find parking tickets on them.
Another carpark is in Havelock outside the Supreme Court. How can anyone estimate the time spent in the courtroom as a witness or attending to other legal procedures?
Why can't automatic gantries be installed there?
A third example: The Ministry of National Development building in Maxwell Road. Someone going for a two-hour appointment has to display $4 worth of coupons. Should the appointment get extended, one could end up paying a fine.
On the other hand, if one were to play it safe and display 2-1/2 hours' worth of coupons at a cost of $5, but the meeting lasts only 30 minutes, one would end up wasting coupons worth $4.
Surely the cost involved in upgrading carparks technology-wise cannot be an issue when there are private carparks with fewer than 100 lots which already operate so much more efficiently.
Halim Gafoor
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE is renowned as a 'fine' city for imposing penalties for offences ranging from killer litter to feeding monkeys. But one penalty that is surely unnecessary is the fine for displaying insufficient parking coupons.
I understand that carpark ticket monitoring is tendered out to private companies, which also set targets in terms of number of fines issued. This then translates into a hawk-like attitude in the issuing of summonses for drivers who park beyond the time stipulated on the coupons.
What saddens me is that a country that created the world's first Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is unable to ensure the simple installation of automatic CashCard parking in popular carparks.
One example is the one near East Coast Park hawker centre, which has fewer than 100 lots. Many families who spend time at the beach may be delayed by their children or long queues at the hawker centre only to get back to their car and find parking tickets on them.
Another carpark is in Havelock outside the Supreme Court. How can anyone estimate the time spent in the courtroom as a witness or attending to other legal procedures?
Why can't automatic gantries be installed there?
A third example: The Ministry of National Development building in Maxwell Road. Someone going for a two-hour appointment has to display $4 worth of coupons. Should the appointment get extended, one could end up paying a fine.
On the other hand, if one were to play it safe and display 2-1/2 hours' worth of coupons at a cost of $5, but the meeting lasts only 30 minutes, one would end up wasting coupons worth $4.
Surely the cost involved in upgrading carparks technology-wise cannot be an issue when there are private carparks with fewer than 100 lots which already operate so much more efficiently.
Halim Gafoor
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