I AGREE with Mr Quek Pin Hou ('Cut HDB's parking squeeze by sharing red lots'; last Saturday) about the inefficient use of reserved red spaces for season parking ticket holders in HDB carparks.
This is because season parking ticket holders are currently allowed to park in both red and white spaces. The problem of insufficient parking spaces is compounded when a season parking ticket holder parks in a white space, thereby depriving a non-season ticket holder a parking space as he is not permitted to park in a red space.
Even more puzzling to me, in some HDB multi-storey carparks in town centres, the red spaces for season parking ticket holders are on the lower and upper floors while white spaces are on intermediate floors. I cannot understand HDB's rationale for this distribution.
A season parking ticket holder will usually park in a red or white space on the lower floors. He will move to the upper floors only when space is not available on the lower floors. Therefore, these red and white spaces on the lower and intermediate floors are taken up by season parking ticket holders, as most of them are shop owners, tenants and residents living or working near the town centres.
This effectively reduces the number of white spaces for non-season parking ticket holders as they cannot park in the red spaces on the upper floors. As a result, these red spaces remain vacant during much of the day on weekdays and even on weekends.
The parking situation is made worse on weekends and public holidays when most people tend to visit shops, food centres or family and friends. As Mr Quek rightly pointed out, the shortage of public parking adversely affects businesses and social interaction in neighbourhoods and town centres.
HDB should re-examine the current allocation and distribution of red spaces for season parking ticket holders. The number of red spaces allotted should be based on the average number of season tickets sold by HDB and SMRT at park-and-ride carparks near town centres.
One suggestion is to permit season parking ticket holders to park only in red spaces. This will better allocate resources, reduce frustration and help free up white spaces meant for visitors and other members of the public.
