Results 1 to 18 of 18

Thread: Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?

  1. #1
    mr funny is offline Any complaints please PM me
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    8,129

    Default Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?

    http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_648107.html

    Mar 23, 2011

    Posh neighbourhood or tour bus carpark?

    Illegal parking situation is dire at estate near Orchard Road

    By Mavis Toh


    THE residents of upmarket Draycott Park and Ardmore Park are fed up of the tourist coaches that pull up daily to park illegally in their neighbourhood.

    The area is so crowded on weekends that it looks more like a temporary carpark for tour buses than a verdant, exclusive residential area just off Scotts Road.

    The drivers of these huge vehicles are waiting while their passengers shop at the nearby DFS Galleria, an emporium of duty-free luxury goods for tourists in Scotts Road. Some other coaches waiting to pick up guests from Orchard Road hotels for city tours also find the four-lane road a convenient place to park. Double parking is not rare.

    The residents have complained about traffic obstruction, the noise and the heaps of shopping bags, boxes and even broken suitcases left behind after the coaches leave.

    Mr Anthony Fong, the manager of condominium The Draycott, has called the Land Transport Authority (LTA) so often about the illegal parking that he knows the agency's hotline number by heart.

    Noting that the illegal parking is worst between noon and 2pm, he said: 'The residents have complained that the buses obstruct their view when they are driving, making it dangerous.'

    Further down at the Ardmore Park condominium, the situation is similar. A security officer who has worked there for more than four years said the protocol is for him and his colleagues to first ask the coach drivers to leave: 'But the drivers don't always cooperate. Sometimes, they tell us it's not our road. Other times, they ask who are we to get them to leave.'

    Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the LTA, which took over the function of enforcing parking rules from the Traffic Police (TP) last November, said it issued about 1,000 summonses last year for parking offences in the area.

    The year before, the TP handed out more than 1,300 summonses there.

    An LTA spokesman said tour agencies and bus companies have been advised to remind their drivers to refrain from parking indiscriminately along roads in private estates. She suggested that tour buses dropping off passengers at the DFS Galleria park in designated coach parking spaces along Claymore Road, Claymore Hill and at Newton Food Centre.

    But drivers say the lack of parking spaces for coaches leaves them little choice.

    Mr Muthu Suvramaniam, 44, a coach driver for 18 years, said DFS Galleria, a destination for dozens of coaches daily, has only four coach parking spaces. He parks along Draycott Park so he can show up quickly when the tour guide calls.

    'We can't go too far because we need to follow the tour schedule. When the TP or LTA come, we just circle and come back,' he said.

    The drivers say they switch off their engines to minimise noise and fumes, and never leave their vehicles unattended.

    When contacted, a DFS Galleria spokesman said it does not control the actions of private companies that deliver customers or goods to the store, but added it will work with the firms 'to try and find a more acceptable parking solution'.

    Coach operators contacted said the problem is not confined to that area. Their drivers also have problems finding parking spaces and even letting their passengers alight at places like Clarke Quay, the Padang and Merlion Park.

    Sun-Gee Travel operations manager Lin Lee Yee, whose firm owns 140 coaches, said: 'There are so few places in town with parking for coaches.'

    Many tourist attractions also lack drop-off points, so drivers have no choice but to drop their passengers along stretches with double-yellow or zig-zag lines, she said. She has written to the LTA about these parking woes.

    Meanwhile, Draycott Park resident Lisa Chao, 48, said: 'It's almost comical how the situation replays day after day. Something needs to be done.'

    Motorists who park their vehicles illegally can be fined up to $150 and receive three demerit points.

    [email protected]

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    7,482

    Default

    I know of someone who installed CCTV camera outside his house, from then on, no more illegal parking outside his house.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    2,368

    Default

    What is wrong with these people - tourist coach cannot go there? You wanna live near Orchard Rd, then u have to live with rowdy tourists lah. Just like the Holland V girl who says that heartlanders are uncultured and low class and don't earn enough to go Holland V (sounds like some of the bros in this forum. muaha). Really all kinds of "uncultured" people in Singapore "posh" neighbourhood nowadays.

    For goodness sake, the public road outside is for every car or bus lah.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    15,307

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild Falcon
    What is wrong with these people - tourist coach cannot go there? You wanna live near Orchard Rd, then u have to live with rowdy tourists lah. Just like the Holland V girl who says that heartlanders are uncultured and low class and don't earn enough to go Holland V (sounds like some of the bros in this forum. muaha). Really all kinds of "uncultured" people in Singapore "posh" neighbourhood nowadays.

    For goodness sake, the public road outside is for every car or bus lah.
    but we r toking about illegal parking here wor....

  5. #5
    teddybear's Avatar
    teddybear is offline Global recession is coming....
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    10,800

    Default

    Yah lor, in Singapore, any place that is not a car park space and you park your car there is considered illegal parking. This is just blatant illegal parking going on there, fined $150 per summon but still so many doing that? May be the $150 is too small change to them? May be because genuinely insufficient coach car park nearby? LTA only know how "pay and pay" but not solving real problem? (Just like HDB car park space crunch problems? In future there will be private condo car park space crunch problems as well with those new condos building less car park lots than number of units, particularly those near MRT station and allowed to build much less car park lots!).

    Quote Originally Posted by devilplate
    but we r toking about illegal parking here wor....

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    2,368

    Default

    As long as there's no obstruction and coaches picking people up, what's the problem? From the picture, its obviously its a darn big dead-end road with no obstruction. Can't even see double yellow line.

    Quote Originally Posted by devilplate
    but we r toking about illegal parking here wor....

  7. #7
    teddybear's Avatar
    teddybear is offline Global recession is coming....
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    10,800

    Default

    No double yellow lines but got solid middle line, still means no parking by the side of road isn't it? May be must draw double yellow lines then Singaporean drivers can understand? So easy, just get LTA to draw double yellow lines. Whether there is obstruction or not is irrelevant because many people park along roads leading into private landed estates all got booked despite no obstruction.
    And how can so big and so many coaches be "no obstruction" when car is already an obstruction?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild Falcon
    As long as there's no obstruction and coaches picking people up, what's the problem? From the picture, its obviously its a darn big dead-end road with no obstruction. Can't even see double yellow line.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    2,571

    Default

    Wonder if instead of these buses parking illegally, but luxury sports cars like Ferraris and Lambos parked there illegally, would people still complain,,,

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    15,307

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by land118
    Wonder if instead of these buses parking illegally, but luxury sports cars like Ferraris and Lambos parked there illegally, would people still complain,,,
    i will complain if it create incovenience for me....lambo big fxxx meh? hehe

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    1,741

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild Falcon
    What is wrong with these people - tourist coach cannot go there? You wanna live near Orchard Rd, then u have to live with rowdy tourists lah. Just like the Holland V girl who says that heartlanders are uncultured and low class and don't earn enough to go Holland V (sounds like some of the bros in this forum. muaha). Really all kinds of "uncultured" people in Singapore "posh" neighbourhood nowadays.

    For goodness sake, the public road outside is for every car or bus lah.
    U understand difference btw road n car park right....... Road is for driving, car park is for parking....

    U hate pple who live at orchard? The coach bus are committing a traffic offense by parking/double parking on a public road leh. So u say they are correct to do so?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    2,368

    Default

    It's about coach buses picking tourists up. It happens everywhere along the small roads in Orchard - Cavanaugh, Cairnhill etc if you drive there. These coaches just have to pick up these tourists somewhere becos the shopping centers do NOT have enough such spaces for them. Look at Paragon and Ngee Ann city taxi stands and pick up area - already a nighmare at the taxi stand. And if the coach buses go to other smaller roads to pick people up and therefore not obstruct traffic along shopping centers, these places complain again. Look at the picture, r the buses obstructing anyone? No lah. Live and let live. It's a tourist place - face it. If you choose to live near shopping centers or tourist areas, its one of the inconveniences u have to live with and stop complaining.

    I would rather those coach buses go into the quiet lanes to pick people up than obstruct Orchard Road or Paragon - the lesser of the evils.

    Quote Originally Posted by DaytonaSS
    U understand difference btw road n car park right....... Road is for driving, car park is for parking....

    U hate pple who live at orchard? The coach bus are committing a traffic offense by parking/double parking on a public road leh. So u say they are correct to do so?

  12. #12
    teddybear's Avatar
    teddybear is offline Global recession is coming....
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    10,800

    Default

    Come on, you said "picking tourists up"? . The issue here is not "picking tourists up"! It is about blatant illegal parking beside private residential estates waiting to pick tourists up (the wait can be for 3 hours or more!).
    If this is Ok, taxis can also stop anywhere along Orchard Road since they also picking passengers up. Wah lao, why LTA make them can only wait at designated taxi stands hah? Why coaches can park anywhere but taxis cannot?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild Falcon
    It's about coach buses picking tourists up. It happens everywhere along the small roads in Orchard - Cavanaugh, Cairnhill etc if you drive there. These coaches just have to pick up these tourists somewhere becos the shopping centers do NOT have enough such spaces for them. Look at Paragon and Ngee Ann city taxi stands and pick up area - already a nighmare at the taxi stand. And if the coach buses go to other smaller roads to pick people up and therefore not obstruct traffic along shopping centers, these places complain again. Look at the picture, r the buses obstructing anyone? No lah. Live and let live. It's a tourist place - face it. If you choose to live near shopping centers or tourist areas, its one of the inconveniences u have to live with and stop complaining.

    I would rather those coach buses go into the quiet lanes to pick people up than obstruct Orchard Road or Paragon - the lesser of the evils.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    2,988

    Default

    more over, single continuous white line in the middle also means NO STOPPING , not only no parking.
    aiyo offense is an offense.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    7,482

    Default

    The closets coach park is probably lavender, if that's the case, they should just go to the one at millennia walk.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    1,741

    Default

    The bus drivers are plain lazy right..... Issnt there a huge parking area at the entrance of Dempsey hill?

    5 mins turn only ma.......

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    566

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wild Falcon
    As long as there's no obstruction and coaches picking people up, what's the problem? From the picture, its obviously its a darn big dead-end road with no obstruction. Can't even see double yellow line.
    Do not be like another forumer who just read Internet, look at pictures and conclude/ assume things. If you are a resident there, you WILL know the buses are not JUST picking up tourists. They DO double park often times. And no, the 'uncultured' is not the residents who complained but the drivers who illegally parked there. And it's not about orchard Rd. If there is a DFS at Woodlands and these coaches illegally parked there, trust me, the residents there will complain as well.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    1,741

    Default

    i suppose the situation should be very bad if a lot of buses go there n wait. The massive size of the bus will definitely block up the roads if double parking happens.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    221

    Default

    im sure the residents have grounds to complain.. not that they are atas or wat..

    these coaches r huge n are bound to create inconvenience to residents there..

    then again, its bo pian for the coach drivers as well, have to show up the first instance they r paged..

    LTA have to do something i suppose..

Similar Threads

  1. Tour Agency
    By Lav123 in forum Coffeeshop Talk
    Replies: 22
    -: 18-04-14, 16:17
  2. Posh cars driven out of Category A
    By reporter2 in forum HDB, EC, commercial and industrial property discussion
    Replies: 0
    -: 10-09-13, 17:45
  3. Zero value land tour
    By irisng in forum Coffeeshop Talk
    Replies: 10
    -: 30-08-12, 23:58
  4. Still no buyers for 1,000 posh homes
    By mr funny in forum Singapore Private Condominium Property Discussion and News
    Replies: 8
    -: 23-11-10, 14:18
  5. Posh property price-setter
    By mr funny in forum HDB, EC, commercial and industrial property discussion
    Replies: 1
    -: 10-11-06, 16:49

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •