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By Maria Almenoar
Ride scheme face an uphill task of making it more attractive to motorists.
Flagging interest in the 18-year-old scheme has resulted in only about a third of the 4,000 available lots now being taken up every month.
Land Transport Authority officials are currently reviewing the scheme and would only say that the results of the review will be announced next year.
A Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) survey by its research department of over 300 motorists confirmed the low interest.
Of those interviewed, 77% said they would not take part in the scheme. The majority described it as inconvenient, a waste of time and not practical.
Another 20% said they needed their cars as part of their job or for other uses throughout the day.
Under the scheme, which was started to help ease congestion on city roads, motorists pick a carpark on their route to work, park their cars there and then catch a bus or train the rest of the way.
It costs $70 to buy a monthly season parking ticket at a carpark in the heartlands and they also get an EZ-link card with a stored value of $40 to ride the bus or train.
One problem with the scheme could be that not all the 36 carparks islandwide are close enough to the MRT.
The Transport Ministry has noted that those closer to stations are fully utilised while others which are not have almost no takers.
About 5% of motorists who were not interested in the scheme said that the distance to an MRT station under the scheme was too far.
Deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport Ong Kian Min suggested more sheltered carparks near MRT stations to make the scheme more attractive.
And there could be parking areas closer to the city.
There should also be "viable alternatives" for drivers who give up their cars, said Professor Terence Fan, a transport economist with the Singapore Management University.
"Getting them to go from driving to taking public transport may be difficult...So a middle-ground alternative, like a premium bus service, would be better received," he said.
Most importantly, said experts, the scheme should save drivers enough money to be attractive. Motorists feel a sense of "waste" if they do not drive the car on which they have spent so much money.
To encourage them to take part in the scheme, the charges at new Park and Ride carparks at the fringe of the city must be substantially lower than carparks within the city.
"If the difference is small, it will not be enough to compensate for the inconvenience of parking and riding public transport," said Mr Ong.
The scheme, he said, should target motorists who want to drive to work but who do not need to use their cars for most of the working day.
According to the SPH survey, that group accounts for 80% or so of those who are not interested in the scheme.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 15, 2008.
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