HDB to test automated carpark systems at 3 areas

Space-savers will be piloted in Bukit Panjang, Yishun and Changi Village

By Maryam Mokhtar, The Straits Times, 7 Oct 2013

BUKIT Panjang, Yishun and Changi Village have been chosen as test beds for mechanised carparks, as the Housing Board looks for ways to get around space constraints.

The systems are expected to be up and running by the end of 2015, and are next to Block 259A Bangkit Road, beside Block 666A Yishun Avenue 4, and behind Block 1 Changi Village Road.

This was revealed by the chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for National Development and Environment, Ms Lee Bee Wah, when she visited the site at Bangkit Road yesterday.

The three areas already face or are expected to face a carpark shortage, and had suitable places where the automated lots could be built.

Ms Lee, an MP for Nee Soon GRC, said that even if the trial proves successful, the mechanised route will be considered only as a last resort because the carparks are more expensive to build and maintain.

"It will be used only when multi-storey carparks and surface carparks are not feasible," she said.

She added that the trial will help work out problems associated with mechanised systems, such as breakdowns.

"Let's say if it breaks down during peak hours - what will happen? What is the response time?" she said.

"So we have to carefully choose the operator. HDB will be working on it. That is why there is a long study period of one year."

A GPC and HDB joint study which began last year on the viability of mechanised systems found that parking towers in Japan and South Korea can be as high as 30 storeys, said Ms Lee.

The space savings can be significant.

The Bukit Panjang site, for instance, is the size of a basketball court but it will be able to accommodate 60 cars in a two-tower system at least 10 storeys high.

The same system will be used in Yishun, but with a single tower. In Changi, a larger-scale rack system will be used, with lifts taking cars up and down, and carting the vehicles into parking slots.

HDB said parking rates at these mechanised carparks will be the same as those at existing carparks. The one in Bukit Panjang is likely to be meant for season parking.

The systems take about 90 seconds to park a car and the same time to retrieve it.

On his blog yesterday, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said this pilot will help HDB gauge public acceptance of the system.