Recovering Revenue from Motorists who Evade Car Park Charges
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the recovery of revenue from motorists evading parking charges and the implementation of new measures to counter the manipulation of carpark systems. Ms Sun Xueling inquired about collection possibilities and technological solutions, to which Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong replied that the Housing and Development Board will leverage CCTV to track offenders. To reduce tailgating, HDB will install more humps, put up warning signboards, and may ban errant motorists from car parks if their outstanding charges remain unpaid. Tighter enforcement actions are also being taken, following July 2016 amendments to the Parking Places Rules that allow for immediate enforcement against those who deliberately evade payment. These measures include raising public awareness and imposing stiffer fines of up to $2,000 for recalcitrant cases to deter the evasion of parking charges.
Transcript
56 Ms Sun Xueling asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the possibility of collecting back the revenue lost from motorists who evade parking charges; and (b) whether new solutions are being considered to counter manipulation of the carpark system by motorists.
Mr Lawrence Wong: The process to recover parking charges involves much time and manpower resources. Nevertheless, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will do its best in tracking down errant motorists who evade parking charges. HDB will also leverage suitable technology like CCTV to help in the process of recovering these parking charges. However, this will have to be balanced with the cost effectiveness of chasing down every errant motorist.
Going forward, HDB will make greater use of technology to help prevent evasion of car park charges and recover any loss in parking charges. In addition, HDB will be implementing more mitigating measures to reduce future tailgating instances, such as installing additional humps, to prevent motorists from following too closely behind another vehicle; putting up "No Tailgating" signboards to warn motorists; and possibly banning use of the car park by errant motorists if their outstanding charges are not paid up.
Another key strategy is to take tighter enforcement actions against errant motorists. The Parking Places Rules have been amended in July 2016 to allow immediate enforcement action against motorists who deliberately evade payment of parking charges. Recalcitrant cases will face a stiffer fine amount of up to $2,000. Such measures will raise public awareness of the seriousness of these offences and help to deter evasion of parking charges in the first place.