SINGAPORE - Drivers of lorries, trucks and bus coaches who apply for season parking tickets from Aug 1 will have to participate in a government survey aimed at identifying the travel and parking patterns of heavy vehicles.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is calling a tender to collect travel and parking data of heavy vehicles as part of a research study with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Smart).
"Understanding these parking patterns will help URA to identify locations that are suitable for the parking of heavy vehicles and better allocate the heavy vehicle parking spaces," said the authority in a press release on Friday (June 3).
There is high demand for public heavy vehicle parking spaces located near housing estates, URA noted. While there are 44,000 spaces for the 34,400 registered heavy vehicles in Singapore, most are located in industrial areas and less than 25 per cent are near homes.
Providing parking spaces to heavy vehicles will be increasingly challenging, as many of the existing heavy vehicle parks will need to be redeveloped for new homes and community facilities, said URA. The agency has also received feedback from residents to relocate these parks because of noise, fumes and safety concerns.
Heavy vehicle drivers who apply for new or renewed season parking tickets from Aug 1 will have to participate in this exercise, as URA will be changing the terms and conditions of these tickets.
The data collection exercise will involve installing global positioning system (GPS) devices in heavy vehicles to collect travel and parking data for one month. The cost of the GPS device, including installation and removal, will be fully borne by URA.
"There will be no infringement on the privacy of drivers... URA will not receive information that identifies individual vehicles owners or drivers," said the agency.
It added that all data collected will be used for research and planning purposes only and will be studied on a group basis. Those involved in the study must also sign legal agreements to keep all collected data confidential and must also destroy the data after the study has been completed.
Drivers will also be surveyed, on a voluntary basis, about issues such as the purpose of the heavy vehicle trips and the time taken to pick up and deliver different goods.
Current holders of URA's heavy vehicle season parking tickets will receive a letter from the agency with more details and a helpline to call if they have queries or wish to meet up with URA staff to discuss the matter.
