Real Estate Matters | Driving and parking – Time for revolution? – It may soon be cheaper to hire someone to drive your car around than to park it

Juliet Risdon

Juliet Risdon is a Director of JML Property and a property investor.
Having established the company in 1994, JML Property offers Investment Property & Homes. It specializes in managing properties for owners and investors, and providing attractive and comfortable homes for tenants.

Macau is grinding to a halt.
We are only a short step away from being instructed to bring food with us if we are travelling between the islands and the peninsula.
It was not so long ago, prior to the opening of the second bridge which I believe was in 1995, that drivers had to queue for anywhere from 1 hour to 6 hours (yes, that’s right… 6 hours) to cross the original bridge. To catch a 7pm jetfoil with confidence, a person would leave Coloane at 12:00
Traffic and the volume of cars in Macau is a subject that tends to raise the blood pressure of anyone with a pulse. We look at some of its effects and possible solutions in this article.

Parking:
A single parking space now costs as much as a family home in many places outside Macau.
With taxis rarer than a cheap rent, buses more overcrowded than a lifeboat from the Titanic and a rail system approaching at the speed of dark, there’s not much choice getting from A to B.
But where do you park ? It’s almost impossible to park nowadays, and that’s a massive issue for Macau.

Possible solutions (in no particular order):
1. Increase the number of taxi licenses by at least double. The taxi license holders will complain, but increasing the amount of taxis will also increase the amount of people who use them because they can actually rely on getting one.
2. Dedicated taxi pick up points where taxis can pull in and pick up passengers. Stopping on pedestrian crossings, roundabouts and single lane roads causes havoc for drivers, and there is no reliable queuing system for passengers hoping to catch a taxi or win the lottery, whichever comes first.

3. Improve the driving license learning and test center. The quality of driving and knowledge is disgraceful.
The speed limit of just over 37mph (60kmh) on most roads and the traffic jams are the only reasons more people aren’t injured.
Amongst other things, drivers simply do not know the correct way to drive around a roundabout, and as soon as a bus stops in mid roundabout to let another bus out, it causes a chain reaction that evolves into a traffic jam every time.
I recently heard the roundabouts re-named ‘Traffic Roulette’ which seems like a far more appropriate name. Either teach people how to drive around roundabouts or go back to traffic lights.

4. Throw every possible resource at the light rail, and plan NOW for line extensions into populated areas to carry people to work and discourage them from using cars.

5. Like most other advanced cities and countries, issue parking permits for local residents. There are not enough car parks, parking permits allow residents the ability to park within walking distance of their home.
6. Add another level to the bus system. The current bus system caters for people on a budget, and that’s important. The trouble is there are only two choices right now, pay MOP 5.00 for a bus ride or MOP300,000+ for a car! There are many people who would pay much higher transport and mini-bus rates so they can get from A to B without using a car.

7. Add a rail link to the Hong Kong/Macau/Guangzhou bridge. Do it now, even if it means delaying the current project. In today’s age of the environment, not having a rail link and only having an exhaust spewing car option is simply, well, irresponsible.

8. Allow Uber or a similar system to operate in Macau. If you are not familiar with Uber, it is an extremely successful and popular application that allows people to share rides in private cars for pre-agreed fees that paid automatically by credit card.
You get into a car knowing how others have rated the car and the driver, and you also know the name and have the full details of the driver. Feel unsafe? When was the last time you had a full report in hand about the taxi driver you are riding with ?

Its difficult to see which way parking space prices will go.

On one hand, unless the issue is addressed and tackled efficiently, the demand for parking will just continue to increase. On the other hand, HKD 1,500,000 – HKD 3,500,000 is today’s reality. Are we facing a future where owning a parking space will make you a USD millionaire?

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