Park & Ride scheme to cease from Dec 1: LTA

The Park & Ride Scheme will be discontinued from Dec 1. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

SINGAPORE - The Park & Ride Scheme will be discontinued from Dec 1, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (Oct 14).

The scheme was first introduced in 1975 to reduce congestion in the Central Business District (CBD) by encouraging motorists to switch to public transport before entering the CBD.

Under the current scheme, regular users purchase a Park & Ride set which includes an EZ-Link card to be used for public transport rides in the month of purchase and a season parking ticket at discounted rates to park at selected carparks for that month.

Over the past few years, monthly take-up rates for the Park & Ride scheme have been consistently low.

There are fewer than 2,000 regular users out of more than 2 million public transport commuters daily, LTA said.

Of these users, only about half of them take public transport after parking their cars and in some carparks, this figure is lower than one in five.

"This suggests the possibility of some motorists using the Park & Ride scheme as a cheaper form of parking, which defeats the purpose of the scheme," said LTA.

The scheme has also become less relevant with the expansion of the public transport network.

The last day for the sale of Park & Ride sets for November at the Transitlink Ticket Offices will be on Nov 7.

Online sale of the sets will cease on Nov 4.

Holders of the Park & Ride EZ-Link cards who do not intend to participate in the Park & Ride scheme from now till November can obtain a refund of the remaining card deposit at the Transitlink Ticket Offices starting from Friday.

For more information on the Park & Ride Scheme, refer to TransitLink's website at http://www.transitlink.com.sg or contact TransitLink's Hotline on 1800-CALL ONE (1800-2255 663).

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