Response of Enquiry from LTA

This is the Email from the LTA officer to the team regarding my enquiry on the Park and Ride Scheme.

Sent: Wednesday, 19 October, 2016 11:49 AM
To: (Blanked for privacy)
Subject: Enquiry on the Park and Ride Scheme

Good day Madam,

I am Kevin Teh, a student from Singapore Institute of Technology, pursuing a degree in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land). I am representing my project group to enquire about the current Park and Ride Scheme as part of our project to write a proposal for an improvement of the Park and Ride scheme. The following are the set of questions our group has generated for our better understanding of the scheme.

1) Was the abuse of the Park and Ride scheme a major contributing factor to the debate of whether to continue the scheme?

Abuse of the Park & Ride scheme is part of the reason for discontinuing the scheme. We have considered various measures to tackle abuses, including the solutions which you have brought up. However, we found that the measures can be easily circumvented and are not cost effective.

Park & Ride was first implemented in 1975 as a scheme to reduce congestion in the CBD by encouraging drivers to switch to public transport before entering the CBD. With the expansion of our public transport network and improved connectivity and accessibility into the CBD over the years, commuters now have more choices to get into the CBD directly besides driving. Besides new rail lines to connect commuters directly and conveniently to the CBD, we have also introduced other transport options, such the City Direct Services.  Furthermore, with the improved walk, cycle and ride options, more commuters can consider taking public transport for the entire of their journeys in future.

Hence, with the many more options to travel into the CBD directly, the Park & Ride scheme is less relevant than before.  As part of LTA’s regular review of the scheme, we have decided to discontinue the Park & Ride scheme from 1 December 2016. Motorists can continue to use the car parks at normal parking rates.

2) What were the proposed preventive measures that the LTA had to prevent the abuse of the scheme?

3) Would requiring users of the scheme to make a formal application first before they could be eligible to apply for the scheme help in preventing the abuse of the current system? i.e. Users of the scheme would be required to apply for the scheme first and would be issued identity cards to identify themselves as successful applicants. As such, only the applicant would be able to make use of the incentives of the scheme and not a proxy.

4) Would enlisting the service of a private bus company to provide a shuttle bus service for users of the Park and Ride scheme help reduce the inconvenience of motorists? i.e. Motorists currently must switch to public transport and having to wait for the public transport adds on to their overall travel time. This was one of the contributing factors that made the scheme unfavourable to motorists.

Note: Users of the shuttle bus service will be required to display their identity card (issued upon successful application of the scheme) before they can aboard the shuttle bus. This ensures that only the applicant of the Park and Ride scheme can use the bus service thus preventing abuse of the system. (refer to Question 3 for application procedures)

Your guidance would be of tremendous help for our better understanding of the scheme and the formulation of our proposal to improve the scheme’s effectiveness. We hope to receive your response by 21 Oct 2016.

Thank you.

Regards,

Kevin The (Group Lead)