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You may have found convenience of Octopus card in all walks of life; if so, it will be more convenient and efficient to park your car with an Octopus card at some road side meter operated parking spaces from this (June 29) Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference today (June 27), the Assistant Commissioner for Transport Mr Stephen Ip said: "A Octopus card operated parking meter scheme will be implemented to replace the existing 17 000 e-Park card meters in phases to enhance the high performance of parking meters."
Under the scheme, the first batch of 1,000 Octopus card operated meters (managing about 1,700 road side parking spaces) will be installed in Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Eastern District, Ho Man Tin, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Tsuen Wan.
The replacement scheme will be completed in 2005.
At present, there are over nine million Octopus-cards circulating in Hong Kong and they are commonly used on different modes of public transport, at car parks, for shopping and various other applications for payment.
Mr Ip said: "With the Octopus card operated parking meter, parking can be done more easily and quickly. You can use your Octopus card to pay the parking fee whenever you see parking meters with the Octopus sign."
The following are the steps for operating Octopus card operated parking meter:
1. Select parking bays by pressing either the left arrow button or right arrow button;
2. Select parking time by pressing the button with a plus sign;
3. Confirm the selection of parking bay and time by pressing the button with a tick;
4. Present Octopus cards to the reader where an Octopus logo is displayed.
Promotional leaflets on how to use Octopus card parking meters are available at licensing offices and 12 government multi-storey carparks. At the beginning of the implementation stage, Octopus card parking meter ambassadors will be deployed on site to provide assistance to motorists.
The existing "e-Park" electronically operated parking meters were installed in 1998 and are approaching the end of their useable life this year. A trial scheme on the Octopus card operated parking meter scheme was successfully implemented between 2000 and 2001.
Enquiries about Octopus card operated parking meter can be made at 2318 0616.
End/Friday, June 27, 2003
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