It's getting crowded on the roads, as commuters on the PIE, CTE, BKE and the rest of the alphabet soup of motor arteries can attest. And it can only get worse. Thus, the Government has been reviewing its transport policy options, and last week heard from a focus group on public transport.

One issue the group raised caught our attention: parking. It's clear that cheap parking, particularly in the city centre, is encouraging far too many people to clog the roads with their cars rather than take public conveyance.

Drivers may gripe at the cost of parking. But really, they know it's cheap - as the volume of weekend downtown traffic shows. And prices are low because of ample spaces. Take Orchard Road. There's always a parking space close at hand, even if it is in the deepest basement of a building.

The reason lies in building regulations. Each building is required to have a set number of parking spaces, with the exact number depending on the development.

While the idea is to ensure adequate parking, it has in fact provided more than a surfeit of spaces. Consequently, ample, easy and cheap parking has perversely become an incentive for bringing out the car.

True, in 2005 the rules were amended and some buildings were allowed a reduction in parking spaces by up to 20 per cent from the set number. But it would have been better to have left the decision wholly to the market. In this case, developers.

Buildings near MRT stations, for instance, may need even less parking than current regulation stipulates. And developers are the best people to decide on the balance between parking and commercial space. After all, they have strong reasons to get it right, or else suffer poor shopper flow.

Next, reduced, and therefore higher-priced, private-sector parking space must be matched by a rise in fees for state-provided spaces. Otherwise, the parking traffic will migrate to the public lots.

Quite simply, it makes sense that public parking rates should better reflect the location and the market value of spaces. Critics will argue that this approach works only if public transport is up to scratch.

We agree and the improvements need to be ramped up so more people see it as a viable alternative. What is needed is a more differentiated service with higher levels of quality for those willing to pay higher fares and leave their cars behind.

The added virtue is that as more people take the buses and the MRT, there will be greater opportunities to improve service levels. Car parking policy is one cog in the overall machinery but getting it right is a critical part of getting the entire system right.