Transport | Street parking fares to surge next month

DSAT director, Lam Hin San

The Transport Bureau (DSAT) will update the fares of all parking meters from June 17, the bureau informed in a press conference yesterday morning.

The fare update will lead to some parking fees increasing as much as 200 percent. For example, private cars that currently pay a fee of MOP2 per hour in the two hour limit parking meters from June 17 will pay MOP6 per hour.

The hikes will also apply to motorcycles and to heavy vehicles, leading to increases of about 100 percent in the two hours limit parking meter areas for the vehicles. For motorcycles, this will be a change from MOP1 to MOP2 per hour, and for heavy vehicles, this will be a raise of MOP5 to MOP10.

Also adjusted in the same executive order was the time limit on some of the parking meters, with the reduction of time from five to four hours to be applied to both private cars and motorcycles.

The DSAT director, Lam Hin San justified such adjustments by “taking into account the demand [for parking spots] and the inflation [rate].”

Lam noted that parking meter fees had not changed for 30 years (since 1987), adding that the adjustments proposed aim to “increase the turnover [on the usage of the parking spots] so that the people can easily find a parking spot.”

Lam also noted that such measures are included in a policy that aims to “bring [the parking meters fares] closer to the fares charged in the car parks,” as has been supported by some members of the Traffic Advisory Board (CCT).

Lam also said that the bureau is “finding ways to find more parking spots [especially for heavy vehicles].”

The director of the DSAT informed that the necessary works to replace all parking meters with new machines (which allow payment via both coins and through the Macau Pass system) will be done preferentially during the night and on Saturdays in order to avoid disruption to the population.  Lam Hin San added that these works will also include a reduction in the number of car spots in order to provide more motorcycle parking meters. Currently, of the 11,000 parking meters offered, about 80 percent are for cars only.

The work schedule has been set to begin in the Cathedral Parish area on June 17, followed by the Saint Lazarus and Saint Anthony’s Parishes in October and November of this year.

All works are expected to be concluded by March 2018 at which point all the parking meters will have been replaced by those on the new system.

Questioned by the media on the cost of these changes, Lam replied:  “The government would not spend anything. It’s the concessionaire that will do all the works.”

Bus route management is a ‘never ending task’

According to the director of the Transport Bureau, Lam Hin San, the management of Macau’s bus routes is “never ending.”

“[The bus route management] is one of the works we attribute more importance to. Our goal is always to seek how to elevate the quality of this service,” Lam said yesterday during a press conference, in which he noted that Macau’s bus service registered over 200 million users last year. Lam also added that during the first four months of this year, the use of public buses has risen 7 percent when compared year-on-year with the same period last year. Lam expressed the expectation that there will be a total of around 217 million users by the end of 2017.

Lam noted that the works on bus routes have been constant, and the recent change from small to medium-sized buses on some routes had already resulted in a “benefit for over 10,000 people.”

He went on to say that such works will continue in order to shorten some routes, increase the number of buses, and create special routes during peak hours.

Commenting on the shortening of route 25 which is no longer ending at Hac Sa beach, to the displeasure of residents who handed a petition to the government and the merging of the Routes 7 and 7A, Lam said: “The route 25 has a big demand [from the public]. I can advance that is the third most demanded route in Macau (after 33 and 3).”

“We proposed [to the bus company] a total of 16 buses for this route,” he said, informing also that “after the adjustment was done [on the route] it was possible to raise the frequency to 141 routes per day from the previous 116 routes per day.”

Lam explained that it is a matter of “management and of routine,” noting that there are other, faster solutions beyond riding the same bus.

As an example, he noted that the previous travelling time between Hac Sa beach and the Border Gate was over 60 minutes (using Route 25), but using route 26A and transferring to route 51 at Seac Pai Van means that it is possible to reach the same destination in about 40 minutes, noting, “we have to promote this culture and knowledge.” Lam noted that there are about 300 services per day to and from Hac Sa beach (through routes 15, 21A and 26A) saying, “I believe this is enough to serve the population there. What is needed is to educate people on the transfers in order to minimize time spent on traveling.” RM

New helmet rules have a   six-month probation period

Lam Hin San commented on the controversial new regulations for the use of helmets, noting that DSAR has already agreed with the police to have a first phase “dedicated to educate and to recommendations.” Lam said that the phase will last for  6 months before more restrictive measures are enforced. “We don’t have the purpose to give tickets to people. What we want is that riders are well informed and that they can take preventive measures to protect themselves,” the head of the DSAT said.

Lam also noted that there was a misunderstanding regarding the “stickers,”  saying that authorities will find other ways to check if the helmet is in accordance with the regulations.

As for the idea of applying sanctions to shops that sell products which are not in line with regulations, Lam said, “for the time being the law does not cover that. We will think about adding that in the revision of that law,” adding also that special licensing to import such products might also be a solution.