Invasion of the abandoned car

A lack of parking spaces in Coloane and an increasing number of abandoned cars occupying public parking slots coupled with inefficient payment systems in public car parks were the main topics under discussion by the Advisory Council of Community Services of the Islands in its meeting yesterday. Lei Hon Veng, a member of the Advisory Council of Community Services of the Islands commented that public car spaces are continually being occupied by abandoned vehicles for long periods of time – especially in the Ka Ho, Hac Sa, and Cheoc Van areas of the islands. “Those abandoned cars have been parked in public car spaces for such a long time without leaving, which has caused other drivers to find it hard to get a parking lot; and it also creates a threat to public hygiene in those areas,” Mr. Lei said. The Council member suggested increasing the mobility of the abandoned cars by providing owners with discounts to resell their cars to other countries. He also said that the government should provide cheaper rental fees for those cars to park temporarily in more remote areas, and in the long term for the government to build a large public car park in Coloane to resolve this issue. Inefficient payment system Issues of inefficient auto-machines and a lack of electric payment facilities in the public car parks on the islands were raised by Council member Albert Lo Wa Kit. Mr. Lo urged the government to implement an electric payment system such as UnionPay’s QuickPass cards in all the public car parks in Taipa and Coloane. Currently, there are seven public car parks on the islands, using manpower to handle parking payments, with only one public car park – in Rua da Ponte Negra in Taipa – offering contactless electric payment via QuickPass. Mr. Lo questioned why other public car parks haven’t also installed electric payment systems. “Auto-payment machines at the public car parks only accept coins or ten dollar notes, but not all drivers have sufficient spare change to pay. Sometimes, there is even no staff available at the payment counter, so they have to go to other places to pay the fees, which causes a lot of inconvenience to drivers,” Mr. Lo explained. Another complaint Mr. Lo raised was the slow payment process by staff at the public car park at the Lago Building during peak hours. Mr. Lo urged the government to install electric payment systems in all public car parks while improving auto-payment machines in order to increase the efficiency of car park management.