Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_648107.html
Mar 23, 2011
Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?
Illegal parking situation is dire at estate near Orchard Road
By Mavis Toh
THE residents of upmarket Draycott Park and Ardmore Park are fed up of the tourist coaches that pull up daily to park illegally in their neighbourhood.
The area is so crowded on weekends that it looks more like a temporary carpark for tour buses than a verdant, exclusive residential area just off Scotts Road.
The drivers of these huge vehicles are waiting while their passengers shop at the nearby DFS Galleria, an emporium of duty-free luxury goods for tourists in Scotts Road. Some other coaches waiting to pick up guests from Orchard Road hotels for city tours also find the four-lane road a convenient place to park. Double parking is not rare.
The residents have complained about traffic obstruction, the noise and the heaps of shopping bags, boxes and even broken suitcases left behind after the coaches leave.
Mr Anthony Fong, the manager of condominium The Draycott, has called the Land Transport Authority (LTA) so often about the illegal parking that he knows the agency's hotline number by heart.
Noting that the illegal parking is worst between noon and 2pm, he said: 'The residents have complained that the buses obstruct their view when they are driving, making it dangerous.'
Further down at the Ardmore Park condominium, the situation is similar. A security officer who has worked there for more than four years said the protocol is for him and his colleagues to first ask the coach drivers to leave: 'But the drivers don't always cooperate. Sometimes, they tell us it's not our road. Other times, they ask who are we to get them to leave.'
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the LTA, which took over the function of enforcing parking rules from the Traffic Police (TP) last November, said it issued about 1,000 summonses last year for parking offences in the area.
The year before, the TP handed out more than 1,300 summonses there.
An LTA spokesman said tour agencies and bus companies have been advised to remind their drivers to refrain from parking indiscriminately along roads in private estates. She suggested that tour buses dropping off passengers at the DFS Galleria park in designated coach parking spaces along Claymore Road, Claymore Hill and at Newton Food Centre.
But drivers say the lack of parking spaces for coaches leaves them little choice.
Mr Muthu Suvramaniam, 44, a coach driver for 18 years, said DFS Galleria, a destination for dozens of coaches daily, has only four coach parking spaces. He parks along Draycott Park so he can show up quickly when the tour guide calls.
'We can't go too far because we need to follow the tour schedule. When the TP or LTA come, we just circle and come back,' he said.
The drivers say they switch off their engines to minimise noise and fumes, and never leave their vehicles unattended.
When contacted, a DFS Galleria spokesman said it does not control the actions of private companies that deliver customers or goods to the store, but added it will work with the firms 'to try and find a more acceptable parking solution'.
Coach operators contacted said the problem is not confined to that area. Their drivers also have problems finding parking spaces and even letting their passengers alight at places like Clarke Quay, the Padang and Merlion Park.
Sun-Gee Travel operations manager Lin Lee Yee, whose firm owns 140 coaches, said: 'There are so few places in town with parking for coaches.'
Many tourist attractions also lack drop-off points, so drivers have no choice but to drop their passengers along stretches with double-yellow or zig-zag lines, she said. She has written to the LTA about these parking woes.
Meanwhile, Draycott Park resident Lisa Chao, 48, said: 'It's almost comical how the situation replays day after day. Something needs to be done.'
Motorists who park their vehicles illegally can be fined up to $150 and receive three demerit points.
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