Parking And Attendants

Coupon-based parking - a long standing system in Singapore. Parking coupons are sold in booklets at either $10 for 10 $1 coupons or 20 50 cent coupons. Lots in the Central Business District are $1 for 1/2 an hour while lots outside of the CBD are $1 for an hour. So, if you decide to park for two hours in a non-CBD area, you'd tear out two coupons from your $1 coupon stash or 4 coupons from your $0.50 stash, punch out the tabs for the date and time and display it prominently on your dashboard.

It is a fact in Singapore and, from what I see on TV, around the world that people love playing cat-and-mouse games with parking attendants to get away with "free" parking.

At my office, only Management and people of Senior Executive status are accorded free parking within the building while poor saps like myself park in public lots. Fortunately for me, I work nights so I only have to park for an hour at the public lots and when office hours are over, I get to park in our multi-storey structure mainly reserved for the creme-de-la-creme. So, a coupon is used every day.

However, there are other staff who decide to gamble. They display one $0.50 coupon and park for a good 8 hours. Sometimes, no coupon is displayed at all! Most times, they get away with it because parking attendants are on foot and have to comb a large area. So, they may only check the lots adjacent to my office twice a day. However, there are days when I see a row of cars with tickets under their wiper-blades. If a ticket is issued and the attendant is still seen in the vicinity, you'd see car owners, with ticket firmly in grip running after and yelling at parking attendants. Most of these attendants appear to be immune to such verbal abuse but I feel sorry for them because firstly, they are mostly ladies working under harsh weather and secondly, they are just doing their job enforcing the rules.

Some months ago, I saw a colleague standing by his car scrutinizing a ticket he received. I asked if it was worth the risk. His enthusiastic reply was "Of course!" You see, a monthly parking permit would cost a car owner $75. The fine for non-display of a parking coupon is $30. So, even if he gets caught twice in a month for not displaying a coupon, it is still cheaper than the monthly $75 fee.

Me? I prefer peace of mind to cat-and-mouse games. I also love my car too much to embarrass her with a ticket shoved under her wiper. So, a coupon a day, sufficient for the one hour she stays outside before I bring her into the building legitimately.

What prompted this post? A few days ago as I was walking in after parking my black beauty, I came across a couple of parking attendants issuing tickets to some cars whose owners had blatently not displayed a single parking coupon. I knew they were employees at my organisation from the car labels. One guy, who had seen the ladies in white walking through the public carpark, came running out of the building like it was about to collapse on him. "Don't book me!", he yelled from about 150 metres away, "I'm here!".

As he approached the parking attendant (or more glamourously known as "Parking Enforcement Officer") who was hovering around his car, the lady yelled back "You can afford to buy a car but you can't even afford to display a 50 cent coupon".

Red-faced, the well-dressed company executive unlocked his car and punched out a fresh coupon.

While the parking attendant made a very good point, I hardly think it was in her place to make such a comment. I thought it was not only rude but very unbecoming of a public servant. What he can or cannot afford is really none of her concern.

Nevertheless, it was still very gracious of her to allow him to come place his coupon even though he had clearly violated the law. Being a parking attendant is a very tough and thankless job because it is almost always greeted with vociferous verbal abuse. Still, I'd ask that they carry out their duties and keep the opinions to themselves or fellow parking attendants over coffee.