Park & Ride suffers from lack of public awareness

The Park & Ride scheme should not be terminated, as it is aligned with the Government's objective to promote the use of public transport ("LTA puts the brakes on Park & Ride scheme"; last Saturday).

It encourages drivers who live in areas not served by good last-mile public transport - for example, in private estates - to use their cars for last-mile connectivity and take public transport for the major part of their journey.

The first reason given by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for terminating the scheme was low usage.

I find that many drivers are unaware of this scheme.

Instead of this being a reason for termination, the LTA should increase awareness and promote the scheme more actively.

The second reason given was misuse of the scheme.

With data analytics and additional registration information, such as place of employment, cases of misuse can be easily controlled ("Track Park & Ride users to prevent misuse" by Mr Tok Choon Boon; last Thursday, and "Tweak Park & Ride scheme to discourage misuse" by Mr Douglas Chua Hock Lye; last Tuesday).

We should not allow a good scheme to be terminated when there are good ways to prevent misuse. I urge the LTA to review its decision.

Chai Ming Yao

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 18, 2016, with the headline Park & Ride suffers from lack of public awareness. Subscribe