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The Transport Department announces today (Saturday) that Hong Kong's first batch of electronic parking devices (EPDs) will be operational at about 500 parking bays in Wan Chai from tomorrow (Sunday).

To mark the new era for parking, a road show was held at noon today at Oi Kwan Road in Wan Chai to demonstrate the use of electronic parking meters (EPMs) and pay-and-display machines (PDMs) to motorists.

The road show was officially kicked off by the Commissioner for Transport, Mrs Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, and the chairman of Wan Chai Provisional District Board, Mrs Peggy Lam. They demonstrated the use of a common smart card, e-Park Card, to purchase parking time from the machines.

The e-Park Cards with denominations of $100, $200 and $300, issued by the Transport Department, can be accepted by the EPDs, that is, both the EPMs and PDMs.

The cards are now available at 236 retail outlets, including 61 Shell petrol stations, 115 7-Eleven convenience stores, 36 Wilson Parking car parks, 10 Kwik Park car parks and 14 Transport Department multi-storey car parks. By the end of this year, the number of retail outlets will be expanded to 485 locations.

The EPMs which will be in service in Wan Chai from tomorrow can be found at the following locations:

Sung Tak Street Landale Street

Oi Kwan Road Star Street

Jaffe Road Cross Lane

Luard Road Gloucester Road

Stewart Road Hung Hing Road

Lockhart Road Lee Tung Street

Thomson Road Hing Wan Street

Mallory Street Kat On Street

Burrows Street Stone Nullah Lane

Kennedy Road Wing Fung Street

Four PDMs will be installed at parking bays at Oi Kwan Road and Luard Road, two for each of these locations.

An additional 3,000 parking bays in Happy Valley, Causeway Bay, Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok and Tsuen Wan will be converted to EPDs by the end of May.

From May 1, e-Park Cards will be accepted for payment of parking fees at the Transport Department's 14 multi-storey car parks.

In the second phase of the conversion programme, the rest of Hong Kong's 14,000 mechanical parking meters will be converted to EPDs by the end of this year.

The conversion programme together with the management, operation and maintenance of the parking system is being undertaken by Hong Kong Parking Limited, a joint venture between Wilson Parking (Holdings) Ltd. and Serco Guardian (F.M.) Ltd.

Commenting on the conversion programme, a spokesman for the Transport Department said the new system offered many advantages to motorists.

"Apart from being more accurate and reliable than the old mechanical meters, the new system means that drivers will no longer have to worry about having no change for parking meters.

"The new system will also provide a lot of information on the usage patterns which can be used to plan new parking facilities," the spokesman said.

To ensure the smooth operation of the new electronic parking system, a telephone complaints unit has been established. The customer hotline number 2318 0616 is displayed on the back of every parking meter and printed on e-Park Cards.

End/Saturday, April 25, 1998

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