THE decreasing ridership reported on Tuesday ('More cars, so public transport trips down'), despite the increase in Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries, congested roads, higher fuel costs, higher vehicle insurance premiums, stricter traffic fines, increased and confusing taxi fares, and higher parking fees - suggests a failure to recognise the convenience of park-and-ride schemes.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Public Transport Council have underestimated the potential size of the park-and-ride market.

The LTA and the council should revisit the idea now that the rail network is more mature and covers more areas. Inflexible parking schemes have deterred motorists from switching to public transport.

Parking charges near train stations (especially for whole-day parking) must be substantially reduced.

To ensure that only motorists who switch are allowed parking space, the parking gantry software can be reprogrammed to link with the train turnstile by requiring the in-vehicle unit CashCard to be used as the fare card.

The system will then ensure that only motorists who ride the train within, say, 10 minutes of parking their car will merit parking discounts.

Those who park to go shopping near the MRT station will pay normal fees.

Another measure the public transport operators and the LTA should take immediately is to beef up security for bicycle parking for pedal-park-and-ride commuters.

Jack Chew

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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