Removal of Gantry Barriers in URA and HDB Car Parks with Implementation of Parking.sg
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Er Dr Lee Bee Wah’s inquiry regarding the potential removal of car park gantry barriers and the Parking.sg app’s functionality regarding lot availability. Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong clarified that the app complements the Electronic Parking System rather than replacing it, particularly for sites where gantry installation is unfeasible. He highlighted that enhancements like parking history and expiry notifications have been added, though real-time lot availability is currently unavailable due to ongoing coupon usage. As more motorists switch to the app, the Ministry for National Development plans to integrate availability tracking to further improve the user experience for digital parking. The government remains committed to refining the app’s accessibility and functionality to support the transition from traditional parking coupons to digital sessions for all vehicles.
Transcript
3 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for National Development (a) with the implementation of parking.sg, whether there are plans to remove the gantry barriers in all URA and HDB car parks; (b) what is the feedback on the app's accuracy of parking lot availability; and (c) what plans does the Ministry have to improve the app.
Mr Lawrence Wong: The Parking app has been implemented for all coupon-based car parks, for cars on 1 October 2017, and all other vehicle types on 20 December 2017. Since its launch, more than two million parking sessions have been logged by about 250,000 vehicles.
The Parking.sg app serves to complement the existing Electronic Parking System (EPS), rather than to replace it. The app offers greater convenience to motorists parking in areas where EPS is not feasible due to site constraints, for example, kerbside parking lots by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Housing and Development Board.
We will continue to enhance the Parking.sg app for better user experience and improve its accessibility. Some of the enhancements that have already been incorporated include the addition of parking history, and the notification feature that alerts the user before the parking session expires.
The Parking.sg app currently shows the motorist where the nearest car parks are located but does not display the availability of the parking lots. This is because the lots may be occupied by some motorists using coupons, which we are unable to ascertain today. However, we are continuing to encourage more motorists to switch from coupons to the Parking.sg app and, as more do so over time, it will be possible to incorporate this feature into future enhancements of the app.