Government data show there are 124,652 motorcycles in the city, but only 81,411 parking spaces in total (including buildings, public car parks, metered spaces and free on-street parking). Despite the imbalance between “too many vehicles and too few spaces”, motorcycle occupancy rates in public car parks remain extremely low.
Of the current 76 public car parks, 64 provide motorcycle spaces: 42 record average occupancy rates below 50%, while 12 remain below 10%. Society therefore expects the authorities to study incentives for low-occupancy car parks, such as discounts or capped fees, to encourage their use and avoid wasting public resources.
Meanwhile, residents began moving into public housing in Zone A last September, but the district’s three public car parks – Tou Seng, Tou Kai and Tou Chong – continue to show low usage. Together, they provide 1,109 parking spaces for private cars and 1,159 for motorcycles. However, average occupancy rates stand at only 15% and 21.7%, respectively.
Residents complain that, due to the lack of public transport in the area, they prefer to drive. In addition, with several construction projects still underway, there are no short-term conditions for creating on-street parking spaces, leading to calls for incentive measures to promote the use of public car parks.
Public car parks are vital to traffic management. The reasonableness of parking fees and resource allocation directly affects commuting convenience and the efficient use of public resources. The experimental maximum fee policy helps guide drivers and reduces residents’ financial burden.
The Government should therefore optimise its policies, make better use of resources, respond to public demands and quickly expand the flexible pricing model to other suitable public car parks in order to improve their overall efficiency.
