free parking car parks

whilst some people chose to blog about car-park wardens, i choose to blog about places where you can avoid an encounter with them.

sometimes we make sweeping statements like: the bottomline of all government organisations in singapore is to make a big profit so that they can boast of a huge surplus in their balance; and all government agencies are out to make money. so, i was pleasantly surprised to find out that the land transport authority (lta) has actually expanded the car-park at sherwood road, behind the st george's church, and that these lots are not numbered, which means there is no intention to levy a charge.

the two mornings when i went to check out the car-park at around 7.30 a.m., there were hardly any vehicle at the newly built extension. however, the lots at the 'old' car-park were all taken up. the extension has space for more than 70 cars/vehicles. the trouble with some singaporeans is that they are too lazy to walk the 50 metres from the proper car-park, so they leave their cars parked 'illegally' by the side of the road leading to the car-park.

so, where else can you find long-term free parking. most nature parks and nature reserves have provision for free-parking except those near to housing estates or near to a paid parking area. for example, at west coast park, free parking is available at parks 2 and 3 but car-park 1 is coupon parking. why? because car-park 1 is next to the pasir panjang wholesale centre.

usually where there is a restaurant located within a park, parking charges are levied and the restaurant is roped in to manage the car-park. over at punggol, clementi woods and choa chu kang parks, parking is not free. at admiralty park, free parking is available at the north entrance. however, at the west entrance, where there is a restaurant, it is paid parking the whole day.

some car-parks have barriers that are de-activated after 7.00 p.m. in other words, after 7.00 p.m. the barrier is immobilised and it stays down until the next morning. the barriers at venus drive and dairy farm road operate in this way. this is done to prevent overnight parking by people who are not genuine park visitors.

whenever i have to go over to pulau ubin, i usually park my car at halton road, just outside the former changi hospital. many people, especially army personnel, seem to know about this free parking spot.

we can also take advantage of park-and-ride car-parks to save money on parking charges. a few car-parks that have this provision for long-term parking charge either $3.00 or $4.00. some motorists going on cruises or staying overnight at sentosa or batam choose to park their vehicles at the seah imm car-park, opposite harbourfront, where they pay - in the form of parking coupons - $4.00 for parking a whole day.

not all park-and-ride car-parks are fully utilised. the one located at the junction of alexandra road and lower delta road - where you pay $3.00 for whole day parking - has available lots on most days. i was told that some motorists avoid this car-park because it is a flood prone area.