Real-time data sharing to help drivers find HDB parking space

Real-time data sharing to help drivers find HDB parking space

MOTORISTS looking for Housing Board carpark spaces may soon have more ways to do so, as real-time parking information is now available to private application designers too.

HDB's own Mobile@HDB smartphone application already has real-time information on available short-term spaces in HDB carparks with the Electronic Parking System.

This is alongside a service that lets drivers find carparks within 400m of their current location.

Since Monday, this information has also been made available to the public via the data.gov.sg website.

This will help private system developers who want to incorporate the data into their applications, said the HDB in a statement yesterday.

Telecommunications engineer Kenny Phua, 26, does not have trouble finding HDB spaces on most days, but thinks the app could help on occasions such as Chinese New Year.

More and more carparks will be covered in the data as the Electronic Parking System is rolled out further, with half of all HDB carparks to be automated by the first half of next year.

Electronic parking was first implemented in HDB carparks in 2004. It is now in place for about 610 out of 1,800 existing ones.

By the first half of next year, another 300 carparks will have it. The system "will be installed progressively at all car parks, where there are no site constraints, over the next few years", said the HDB.

An enhanced version is also being rolled out.

Under the old system, a fixed number of spaces are open to visitors and the rest reserved for season parking ticket holders. This did not allow optimal use of the lots, said HDB.

The enhanced version has more visitor lots during non-peak hours, when season parking ticket holders are away, and fewer visitor spaces in the evening, to ensure enough spaces for season parking ticket holders returning home.

So far, 440 carparks in Toa Payoh Central, Bukit Batok Central and Bedok Central are using the enhanced version. The rest will be upgraded over time.

janiceh@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on December 19, 2014.
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