A Park and Ride sign displayed at the Blk 156A Lorong 1 Toa Payoh carpark on 6 October, 2016.
The Park & Ride scheme was first introduced in 1975 to reduce congestion in the Central Business District (CBD) by encouraging motorists to switch to public transport before entering the CBD.
Users would purchase a Park & Ride set which includes an EZ-Link card to be used for public transport rides in the month of purchase and a season parking ticket at discounted rates to park at selected carparks for that month.
Over the past few years, monthly take-up rates for the Park & Ride scheme were consistently low.
There are fewer than 2000 regular users out of more than 2 million public transport commuters daily, LTA said.
Of these users, only about half of them take public transport after parking their cars and in some carparks, this figure is lower than one in five.
“This suggests the possibility of some motorists using the Park & Ride scheme as a cheaper form of parking, which defeats the purpose of the scheme,” said LTA.
The scheme has also become less relevant with the expansion of the public transport network.
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