The ongoing review of parking rates at all public car parks here is to avoid a scenario where non-car owners are subsidising parking costs for car owners, said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong. While price adjustments would help drive the car-lite movement in Singapore, the main reason is inflation, he added, noting that rates have remain unchanged for 14 years.
“Inflation has gone up overall and so the main reason the agencies are raising this, is really because of the need to keep pace with inflation and to keep pace with cost increases,” Mr Wong told reporters on the sidelines of Car-Free Sunday SG yesterday. “We don’t want a situation where, inadvertently, we subsidise car parks — meaning to say, non-car owners subsidising car owners.”
In April, Mr Wong had told Parliament that raising parking charges may be something to consider if Singapore wants to move towards creating a car-lite society. Asked by how much the rates would increase, Mr Wong declined to comment yesterday, saying the agencies involved are studying the matter.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority had told TODAY the aim of the review was to “reduce the gap between the fees charged by private and public car parks” and appropriately price public car park charges. Mr Wong said the agencies should be able to finalise the details “very soon”.
Source: TODAY Online
