Darthrevan Supercharged January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 The Ministry of National Development (MND) may try out different mechanised parking systems in housing estates by the end of the year to ease a mounting carpark crunch. No location has been identified yet, but the pilot tests of such systems are likely to be carried out in older HDB estates with space constraints, said MP Lee Bee Wah, who is chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for National Development. But before the pilot tests begin, the MND will work with the National Development GPC to conduct a study to assess the suitability of such systems, and to gather feedback. BACKGROUND STORY THE RATIONALE 'I would think solving the problems faced by residents is on a case-by-case basis. It doesn't mean residents go and vote to have a mechanised carpark system or not. Where there is a need, and there is no other cheaper option, then we would put in the mechanised parking system, should we find it suitable.' MP Lee Bee Wah, when asked if the process of deciding where to build mechanised carparks will be similar to that of lift upgrading Ms Lee was speaking to reporters on Thursday during a tour of a fully automated carpark in Club Street. MPs Penny Low and Gan Thiam Poh, who are both members of the GPC, were also present. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, in a blog entry last month, had raised the possibility of building mechanised carparks in HDB estates to ease the parking crunch. The problem is especially acute in older housing estates because fewer residents owned cars then, and fewer parking spaces were planned. Other types of carparks may not be suitable for such estates because of space constraints in a built-up area. While mechanised parking is not new here, it is used mainly in commercial buildings like hospitals and condominiums. Some have questioned if such systems are suitable for residential estates. Acknowledging such concerns, Ms Lee said: 'Residents worry about reliability and the cost being passed back to them. It looks like it costs more, but as technology advances, and land becomes scarce, at one point it could become a viable solution.' Other concerns, she noted, include retrieval time and the reliability of such systems. But she stressed that mechanised parking is an option meant for older estates which have exhausted all other avenues to ease the parking problem. That is also why it is important to conduct a study of the various mechanised parking systems before coming to a decision, she added. The MPs on Thursday toured the fully automated carpark, known as M-Park@Club Street, which was built at a cost of $6 million. It uses a lift to transport cars to up to four levels and can house up to 140 vehicles at full capacity. A driver need only drive his vehicle into a car-lift and park it in the correct position. After pulling the handbrake and keying in a PIN number, the driver can leave the system to automatically park the car. To retrieve the car, a driver has to key in the PIN, and wait for about four minutes on average. For every 10 cars parked in a normal carpark, the mechanised system can park from 12 to 15 cars, said Mr Jeffrey Tan, division manager at MHE-Demag, which supplies the system. But in its four years of operation, the system has broken down about three times a month. The waiting time for drivers to retrieve their cars can also stretch from less than an hour, to three hours. Mr Tan attributed this to a variety of factors, such as mechanical faults of the moving parts, and a driver not positioning his car correctly. But he said: 'Educating and familiarising the users is a key factor in ensuring it runs smoothly. Once that's done, the incident rates will go down.' source: http://www.straitstimes.com/The-Big-Story/...ory_755139.html ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mllcg 3rd Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 is this the japan system of carparks? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofCar 6th Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Mai siao lah...Just reduce the COE further until no car in singapore road...all problem solved... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangadrool Supersonic January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 In some estates, they actually reduce the parking lots. Telok Blangah (opp park and soccer field) is a good example. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthrevan Supercharged January 13, 2012 Author Share January 13, 2012 In some estates, they actually reduce the parking lots. Telok Blangah (opp park and soccer field) is a good example. i believed the high number of elderlies in these estates mostly do not drive..so it actually makes sense to reduce parking lots Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangadrool Supersonic January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 (edited) i believed the high number of elderlies in these estates mostly do not drive..so it actually makes sense to reduce parking lots There were sufficient lots before. After "upgrading" and taking off some of the lots, it became insufficient and now some cars are illegally parking along the double yellow lines. Edited January 13, 2012 by Kangadrool Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerwen 6th Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 I wonder how much will they charge for this type of parking system? 200? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrickl33 Neutral Newbie January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 more curious how long it takes u to get the car Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unidentified 1st Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 let's see how much is the season parking fee. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthrevan Supercharged January 13, 2012 Author Share January 13, 2012 more curious how long it takes u to get the car less than 5minutes to retrieve the car..but might take up to 3hours if the system experience mechanical failure Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph22 Turbocharged January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 less than 5minutes to retrieve the car..but might take up to 3hours if the system experience mechanical failure that is one major concern seeing that they are likely going to use lowly paid FW to maintiance the jobs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrickl33 Neutral Newbie January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 less than 5minutes to retrieve the car..but might take up to 3hours if the system experience mechanical failure 5 minutes is not too bad in the morning, my area always got "queue" for the cars the leave the car park lol imagine the queue in the morning to retrieve the cars O_O unless they have few retrieval machine thingy hmm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copen 1st Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Why don't just build higher MSCP with lifts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soya Supersonic January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 that is one major concern seeing that they are likely going to use lowly paid FW to maintiance the jobs. dun comprain lah. so good, hdb flat got carpark problem ah gong willing to use taxpayer $$ to solve. pte property not enuf carpark, hv to suck thumb. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonTan 2nd Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Just need one ah-siao to trip the powers. The morning peak hours will go haywire! I think just charge higher carpark to control the demand. I will 101% don't want my carpark to be mechanical. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toothiewabbit Supersonic January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 I can imagine that I have just mechanically parked my car and then, realized I left something in the car! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nzy Twincharged January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 I think might take quite long. They not even confident to put the time in minutes in the news. Read the straits times and they said waiting time can be anything from less than an hour to three hours. lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KARTer 2nd Gear January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 Japan and Taiwan etc have been using this since the 80s or maybe even earlier.... we are way behind time ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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