Unpopularity of LRT Jockey Club parking lot still unsolved

Parking spots at the heavy vehicle parking lot at the LRT Jockey Club station are not been regularly used after a year or so of operations, local media has reported.

After its report on the poorly maintained and widely blocked outdoor area at LRT Jockey Club Station, local media All About Macau noted its readers’ reports of vacant parking spots at the 58-spot underground parking lot at the same station.

The government built the parking lot for heavy vehicles such as tour coaches. It was opened on May 4, 2022. Some of the spots are available for monthly lease, while the rest are for hourly parking. Each partial or full hour of parking equates to MOP12 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and to MOP6 for the rest of the day.

The local media reported observations conducted Friday and Saturday afternoons. No vehicle entered the parking lot during the hour of observation on either day. The vacant spaces indicator remained unchanged, showing 38 available parking spots.

The outdoor parking lot near the Nam San Garden residential estate and the main entrance of the Jockey Club also provides parking spots for tour coaches free-of-charge, making having a charged indoor parking lot for the same type of vehicle contradictory.

During its observation period Friday, the media discovered three private ambulances, an LRT motorcar and a truck in the parking lot. They are all tenants of the parking spots. Parking lot officers told the media that peak hours occur near and after midnight, which explains the high vacancy rate.

A day later, at more or less the same time, the media conducted another observation that lasted 1.5 hours. The same five vehicles were seen at the same spots, without any additional vehicles entering the parking lot.

Near midnight Sunday, the media conducted another observation and saw a sixth vehicle, a minibus from a social service organization, parked in a monthly leased spot.

Two social affairs advisors have each criticized the situation, and have made suggestions for improvement.

Lam Ka Chun has suggested the indoor parking lot’s per-hour parking fee be lowered. If vacancies persist, some spaces could be transformed into parking for light vehicles and motorcycles.

Another advisor, Ho Chong Chun, criticized the mode of information dissemination by the parking lot administrator as being “not transparent.” As it is managed by the LRT Company, the number of vacant parking spots is not published on any Transport Bureau platform. He also suggested to release some of the spots for light vehicles and motorcycles.

In response, the LRT Company has blamed district-wide parking spot distribution and drivers’ habits for the vacancy.

At a previous parliamentary session, transport minister Raimundo do Rosário said the parking lot had seen zero income in its first five months of operations.