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BY LIN ZIXIN
MEET the Ngians.
The family of four live in a four-room Hougang Avenue 10 flat . They own three cars.
Ms Ngian Wee Ling said her family can't make do with just one car because they have lots of zipping around to do.
The 23-year-old trainee teacher drives her Mini Cooper to her school, Nanyang Junior College.
Her brother, a 28-year-old accounts assistant has a Honda Civic Type R and her father, a businessman, drives a Mercedes Benz.
Her mother, a housewife, does not drive.
The Ngians are but one example of a growing number of Housing Board (HDB) dwellers who own more than one car per household.
Over the past four years, that number has gone up by 60 per cent to 36,370 households.
The ratio of season parking ticket (SPT) holders to HDB carpark lots has risen from 57 per cent in 2005 to 79 per cent per cent in 2010.
The high demand, especially during peak hours, has led to shortages in about 10 per cent of HDB's 551,400 carparks.
But flat owners who own more than one car said having several wheels is not a luxury but a necessity.
The New Paper spoke to five families living in four estates - Bukit Batok East, Ang Mo Kio, Hougang and Eunos.
First up, the Ngians, for whom parking is a hassle.
Although they hold SPTs for all three cars for a surface carpark, they are often forced to park elsewhere.
"I end up having to park farther away in another carpark and having to walk more than 10 minutes home when I come back from work," said Ms Ngian.
The money spent on the $75 season parking tickets and petrol for their two additional cars adds up to about 20 per cent of a combined monthly income of about $4,000 - hers and her brother's.
"It's just inconvenient to take public transport. Plus I got the car while studying in NTU, which was quite far from home," she said.
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