The Office of the Government Spokesperson holds a press conference to give further details regarding the updated price list for Transport Bureau services and the update to public parking regulations.
The updated price list for Transport Bureau services, and the increases in charges for removing and storing vehicles improperly parked in public parking spaces, will assist in improving access to public parking facilities.
The move – the first comprehensive increase in such charges since 1998 – aims to cover part of the increase in administrative costs for such services.
The Office of the Government Spokesperson held on Wednesday (4 January) a press conference to give further details regarding the updated price list for Transport Bureau services and the update to public parking regulations. The updates – approved by the Chief Executive – were gazetted on 31 December 2016 and have been in place since 1 January 2017.
Officials attending Wednesday’s press conference were: the Government Spokesperson, Mr Chan Chi Ping; the Director of the Transport Bureau, Mr Lam Hin San; and the Commissioner of the Public Security Police, Mr Leong Man Cheong.
The updated service charges would help improve and make fairer the public’s access to public parking facilities, and prevent long-term occupation of public parking spaces by individual users, said Mr Lam.
From 1 to 3 January the authorities clamped a total of 44 vehicles for violation of parking regulations; enforcement action in the first two days of 2017 had helped release 34 parking spaces for public use, said Mr Leong.
Mr Leong said police enforcement actions would focus on unauthorised long-term occupation of public parking spaces, and vehicles that appeared to be abandoned or damaged.
Mr Lam noted some members of the public had expressed concerns that the new measures had been implemented without warning. Mr Lam explained this was to prevent those in breach of the regulations from trying to manipulate the system. The authorities had been studying since 2013 the implementation of a new price list for Transport Bureau vehicle services. It was part of the Government’s policy for controlling growth in the number vehicles in Macao, he added.
In 2016, the authorities had issued more than 900,000 traffic fines, of which 255,000 were for violation of parking meter regulations, Mr Lam added.
Currently, Macao has 195,000 car parking spaces, including 126,000 spaces that are privately owned. The Government is committed to creating further public parking spaces in order to fulfil public demand. The recent rate of growth in the number of parking spaces has surpassed the recent growth rate in the number of vehicles in Macao: the Government created 2,000 parking spaces in 2016; in 2017 there would be a further 4,000 public parking spaces and a number of private parking spaces.