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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

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/hillview-flyover-to-help-ease-bukit-timah-road-traffic Hillview flyover to help ease Bukit Timah Road traffic Construction for Hillview flyover started in the second half of 2011. Motorists can start using it from 8am on Dec 27. It is part of LTA's road improvement project to enhance parts of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Woodlands Road. ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN PUBLISHED3 HOURS AGO The new Hillview flyover in Upper Bukit Timah Road will open this Sunday. Motorists going to Woodlands from the city, or vice-versa, will be able to use the dual two-lane flyover to bypass a stretch of Upper Bukit Timah Road between Chestnut Drive and Jalan Asas. The flyover provides an alternative route that will redistribute traffic from existing ground-level junctions at Dairy Farm Road and Hillview Road, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday. Construction for the 700m-long flyover started in the second half of 2011. Motorists can start using it from 8am on Dec 27. The LTA has advised motorists heading towards Dairy Farm Road, Hillview Road and Jalan Asas to continue to use the ground-level roads, and not the flyover, to reach their destinations. The Hillview flyover is the second one to be completed along the corridor this year. In April, the Bukit Panjang flyover was opened along a stretch of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Woodlands Road. The viaduct allows motorists to bypass the intersection of Choa Chu Kang Road, Upper Bukit Timah Road, Woodlands Road and Bukit Panjang Road . The two flyovers are part of a larger infrastructure project, which also includes widening parts of Upper Bukit Timah Road and Woodlands Road to improve overall traffic flow in the corridor. "With the enhancement of this key arterial road corridor serving the north-western part of Singapore, motorists travelling to and from Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang residential estates, as well as the Kranji and Mandai industrial estates, will enjoy a better transport experience," the LTA said. Mr Balasupramaniam, 69, a retiree, welcomes the new flyover. He said: "During the peak hours, the traffic along Upper Bukit Timah Road can be quite congested." He added that motorists heading to Woodlands would enjoy a faster drive with the flyover, as they do not have to mix with traffic that is turning into the condominiums in the area, such as along Hillview Road. Adrian Lim

how can adding more buses, more frequency will ease congestion? isn't adding more vehicle to the road will result the opposite? --- New buses to be added to 26 routes to ease congestion By Dylan Loh | Posted: 13 September 2012 1246 hrs SINGAPORE: From Monday, commuters can expect less crowded buses and more frequent arrivals as the government rolls out its Bus Service Enhancement Programme. New buses will be added to 26 routes with heavy ridership during the morning and evening peak periods. By the last quarter of 2012, commuters on another 25 routes will benefit from the addition of new buses. That means by December, over 50 routes will be beefed up, as more than 90 buses in all are added. The additional buses will also serve five new routes, which will be introduced by year-end. - CNA/xq http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1225759/1/.html

hi does anyone know if theres any issues with transporting a track car (non road registered) car to sepang and back from singapore? - do i have to pay any import taxes or fees? or any other issues at the border - whats the appoximate cost? also does anyone have any idea/link/info on car storage places around sepang. where i could keep a track car? again approx costs would be great. cheers

Works to widen a busy stretch of Braddell Road, between Toa Payoh North Flyover and Braddell Flyover, will begin in the third quarter of this year, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA). When completed by end 2015, the road will be expanded from its current dual-three lanes to a dual-five lane carriageway, which is expected to alleviate the traffic congestion that the stretch currently experiences. As part of the road widening project, the LTA will also be constructing a new single lane flyover to allow vehicles that are turning to the right from Toa Payoh to connect directly with the Braddell Underpass as they head towards Paya Lebar. The junctions of Lorong 1 to Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, and Lorong 1 to Lorong 4 Toa Payoh, will also be improved. "When completed, the road widening project will help to alleviate heavy traffic conditions currently experienced along Braddell Road during the peak hours and meet anticipated increase in traffic demand," said an LTA spokesperson. Residents in the area can also expect two new pedestrian bridges across Braddell Road. Necessary noise mitigation measures will also be in place for this widening project, both during and after construction, assured the LTA. Bishan resident James Martin, who is in his 20s and uses Braddell Road regularly to get home, would often be stuck in traffic congestion along the stretch during evening peak hours. "If the project helps to resolve jams, it will be great," he said. Source: http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC12...-peak-hour-jams & http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/S...ory_788320.html

It is Friday night and Serangoon Garden is a motorist's nightmare. A never-ending stream of cars head for the popular enclave of eating joints and watering holes. Drivers honk and patience thins as they jostle for limited carpark spaces. The compact centre of the middle-class housing estate is packed with 18 restaurants, coffee shops and a fast-food outlet, as well as the popular Chomp Chomp and Serangoon Garden hawker centres. On a busy night, car valet Adi, 45, parks up to 20 cars of patrons of Pow Sing chicken rice eatery. 'Weekends are the worst,' he says. Resident S.L. Chan, a businesswoman in her 40s, says she avoids driving near the roundabout during dinner time at the weekend. 'The congestion is already bad. Impatient drivers and illegally parked cars make it worse,' she said. Acting on residents' complaints, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) imposed a ban last month: No more Serangoon Garden shophouses can be turned into food joints. source: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/S...ory_781481.html

As above... Always tot of getting an Ang Moh wife. Just couldnt meet the right one. [:(]

Based on today's news, they are working to ease the shortage. Before they use the excuse of increasing season parking fees, I would like to reprint the following article from 2002 when they increased the fees by 11-20%, and also to remind HDB that there are some motorists with good memories with regards to such increases HDB carpark operations are profitable Business Times May 28, 2002 SINGAPORE BY Lee Han Shih CONTRARY to popular belief, the Housing and Development Board does not lose money on its carparks. In fact, it is making good profits out of them. HDB, which houses 85 per cent of Singaporeans, is also the nation's biggest carpark operator. As a rough guide, it builds three parking lots for every four flats in its estates. It now manages more than 640,000 car, motorcycle and lorry lots. Operationally, these are highly profitable. In financial year 2000-01, HDB made $87.1 million from its carparks - half of that 'contributed' by motorists' parking fines. The year after, profit eased to $80 million. Yet, despite these figures, HDB carparks are officially losing money. Early this month, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told Parliament the carparks lost $99 million in financial year 2000-01 and $105 million in FY2001-02. To reduce these losses, HDB has no option but to raise parking charges by 11 to 20 per cent come September, the minister told fellow MPs. Mr Mah bears the brunt of a rising storm of protest over the rate hike. But some have rallied around him. Among them was Wee Kiat Sia, head of HDB's carpark section. In a letter to the Straits Times, Mr Wee said: 'The HDB residential carparks are heavily subsidised as current charges are way below the cost of providing these carparks.' So are HDB carparks a money spinner or money loser? It depends on how you tally up the cost. Costs for projects such as carparks, MRT lines and power stations come on two levels: developmental (money spent to build them and to service loans) and operational (money spent running them). Operationally, HDB carparks are profitable. But when interest payments are included, they plunge into the red. HDB borrowed perhaps $4 billion from the government to buy state land and to build carparks. Servicing these loans is the single biggest expenditure item for HDB carparks - and the reason they are in the red. When the carparks suffered a $83.6 million deficit in FY 1999-2000, interest paid to the government was $175.1 million. In FY 2000-01, the deficit was $99 million and the interest payment $186.1 million. Taking away cost of interest, the carparks are immediately profitable: $91.5 million in 1999-2000 and $87.1 million in 2000-01. When Mr Mah and Mr Wee talk about deficits and the need to raise rates, they include both developmental and operational costs in their computations. This is not always the case with government projects. Take the MRT, for instance. The cost is split into two: MRT Corporation (now part of the Land Transport Authority) carries all developmental expenses, including interest payments; while SMRT runs the rail system. This allows SMRT to show a profit and go for a listing. If SMRT were to bear both developmental and operational costs, it would run at a loss, there would be no IPO - and fares would have to be raised sharply to cover its deficit. Can the same approach be applied to HDB carparks? If the government shoulders the building cost, the carparks will be profitable and there will be no need to hoist parking fees. But it is not fair for the government to subsidise motorists at the expense of those who take public transport, Mr Mah told Parliament. This leaves HDB with the full responsibility of running the carparks and making ends meet. Even if one accepts this, there are other solutions apart from raising parking charges. Why, for example, is it still paying the government 4.5 per cent interest when it can refinance its loans at better rates? At 3.75 per cent, its interest cost would be cut by $31 million a year - the exact same amount it would get from the parking rate increase. Thus, a simple refinancing of its loans would do away with the need for the unpopular rate hike. But a bigger issue is land cost. HDB may have overpaid for the land it bought for the carparks. Hence the deficit every year. When a private landlord overpays, he lives with the losses, as it would be suicidal to try to pass the cost to customers. (If, say, Ngee Ann City upped its parking fees to $10 an hour, motorists would take their cars and their business to Paragon and Mandarin Hotel.) As a monopoly, HDB has the luxury of being able to raise rates and make them stick. Car owners in housing estates may complain, but they have no other place to park. So they have been made to pay for HDB's mistake. From this perspective, Mr Mah is not wrong to say there is subsidy for HDB carparks. It is just that the subsidising has been passed from the government to hapless motorists.

guys as you may know, i have never driven for a long time already... already sucks at parking now... is there any "sure-win" formula that you guys use for parking? need to change gears couple of time just to achieve one parking... wondering would that damage the Latio CVT gear box, and if it does, how much would that cost to repair...

Wah lauz! Nicholl Highway ERP cannot be used so gov increase prices at other gantries!! http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singa...,247967,00.html?