For discussion FCR(95-96)100
on 5 January 1996
ITEM FOR FINANCE COMMITTEE
CAPITAL WORKS RESERVE FUND
HEAD 708 - CAPITAL SUBVENTIONS AND MAJOR SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT
Transport Department
New Subhead Procurement of electronic parking devices
Members are invited to approve a commitment of $75 million to replace existing mechanical parking meters with electronic parking devices.
The existing coin-operated mechanical parking meters are becoming obsolete and need to be replaced. This is a resubmission of an earlier item withdrawn on 17 November 1995.
2. We propose a phased replacement of the mechanical parking meters with electronic parking meters (EPM) and pay-and-display machines (PDM) within the next three years at a cost of $75 million.
3. There are a total of 13 600 metered parking spaces in the territory. The meters are mechanical and coin-operated. This has been in use for some 30 years and is now becoming technically obsolete. The manufacturer has ceased supplying these meters since August 1994 and will only maintain the supply of spare parts for a few more years.
4. Between 1992 and 1994, the Commissioner for Transport (C for T) carried out field tests at selected locations in Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Tsuen Wan to test the performance of the following four types of electronic parking devices available in the market -
- pay and display machines operated by coins and magnetic cards (PDM);
- magnetic card-operated electronic parking meters (EPM);
- chip card-operated electronic parking meters (EPM); and
- key-operated electronic parking meters (EPM).
5. C for T has conducted surveys before and after the tests to evaluate the performance of the new devices in respect of their reliability, public acceptance, maintenance requirement, revenue collection and enforcement. The findings show that all these devices are superior to the existing mechanical parking meters in the following aspects -
- there is no need for on-street collection of cash. The use of cashless smart cards eliminates the risks of security as well as fraud and misappropriation of revenue arising from coin collection;
- the new devices are robust enough to provide good protection against meter tampering;
- the new devices have very few moving parts. They have substantially lower breakdown rates than mechanical meters and are more reliable and easy to maintain. This would mean fewer complaints about malfunctioning of meters. In addition, the higher rate of utilisation of such devices results in less revenue loss than that of mechanical meters;
- there is improved auditing and financial control through electronic data-retrieval; and
- there are no significant enforcement problems, although enforcement efficiency is slightly reduced in the case of PDM due to the need for enforcement staff to make close-up visual inspection of tickets displayed inside the vehicles.
Details of the field tests and the results are summarised at the Enclosure.
6. C for T plans to replace the existing mechanical meters with PDM and EPM operated chip cards. Both devices will be operated by a common chip card on a prepaid credit basis and will not involve cash transaction on site. Among the different EPM devices tested, we favour the chip card system because it is more reliable and secure than the magnetic card system. It is also more convenient to carry than the electronic key and has more supplies.
7. We plan to introduce EPM at on-street parking spaces and PDM in off-street parking lots, where one machine can cover 10 to 15 parking spaces. We have also identified certain roadside car parks and some cul-de-sacs where PDM will be more suitable than EPM. There are about 800 such parking spaces on Hong Kong Island, 630 in Kowloon, and 1 900 in the New Territories. We have found that existing meter posts at these parking spaces are susceptible to frequent damage by vans and lorries. The use of PDMs in these locations will obviate the need for frequent repairs and replacement of meter posts.
8. We plan to replace about one third (i.e. about 4 500) of the existing mechanical meters with 3 500 EPM and 90 PDM by early 1997 and the remaining meters with about 7 600 EPM and 120 PDM in 1997-98. In the final phase, we will designate about 2 000 new metered parking spaces (1 500 EPM and 30 PDM) by 1998-99.
9. We estimate the cost of fully implementing the replacement plan to be $75 million, made up as follows -
|
Devices/Equipment
|
Quantity
|
$ million
|
|---|
|
(a) EPM
|
13 860
|
31.88
|
|
(b) PDM
|
264
|
13.63
|
|
(c) Chip cards
|
495 000
|
22.28
|
|
(d) Miscellaneous
|
-
|
0.54
|
|
(e) Contingencies (10% of (a) to (d))
|
-
|
6.83
|
|
Total
|
75.16
|
|
Say
|
75.00
|
10. The estimated cashflow is as follows -
|
$ million
|
|---|
|
1996-97
|
20
|
|
1997-98
|
48
|
|
1998-99
|
7
|
|
Total
|
75
|
Subject to Members approval, we shall include sufficient provision in the 1996-97 draft Estimates.
11. We shall procure the equipment through public tender. There are no additional recurrent resource implications on the part of Government. On the other hand, we estimate that the contractor for the operation and management of parking meters will be able to reduce his cost by up to $8.8 million per annum (about 70 staff) as coin collection and counting will become unnecessary upon full implementation of the replacement proposal. We shall reflect such savings in the lower management fees payable to the contractor.
12. In August 1991, we made amendments to the Road Traffic Ordinance and the Fixed Penalty (Traffic Contraventions) Ordinance and their subsidiary legislation to empower the C for T to introduce two types of electronic parking devices, the PDM and the EPM, to phase out the old mechanical meters.
13. We submitted this item to Members (vide FCR(95-96)73) on 17 November 1995. We withdrew the item pending clarification on charges imposed by EMSD. We subsequently briefed Legislative Councils Panel on Planning, Lands and Works on 19 December 1995 and clarified that the estimated project cost in FCR(95-96)73 should have excluded EMSD charges as they represented charges which EMSD is not currently charging under the inter-departmental charging arrangements. The charges had been included erroneously as if EMSD had operated as a trading fund. This is regretted. We have now rectified the error and shown the correct funding requirements in paragraph 9 above.
Transport Branch
December 1995
Enclosure to FCR(95-96)73
|
Description
|
Pay and display machines (PDM)
|
Electronic parking meters
(EPM)
|
|---|
|
Payment method
|
Coin and magnetic card
|
Magnetic card
|
Chip card
|
Electronic key
|
|
Location
|
Wan Chai and Causeway Bay
|
Lo Tak Court in Tsuen Wan
|
Tsim Sha Tsui
|
Lo Tak Court in Tsuen Wan
|
|
Number of spaces
|
111
|
50
|
94
|
50
|
|
Number of machines
|
9
|
50
|
94
|
50
|
|
Test period
|
July 1992 to October 1993
|
April 1992 to April 1993
|
September 1992 to February 1994
|
September 1993 to September 1994 |
|
Description
|
Pay and display machines (PDM)
|
Electronic parking meters
(EPM)
|
|---|
|
Method of payment
|
Coin and magnetic card
|
Magnetic card
|
Chip card
|
Electronic key
|
|
Utilisation rate(1)
|
+11.6%
|
+1.3%
|
+12.5%
|
+5.5%
|
|
Justified telephone complaints per meter per operative day(1)
|
-82.4%
|
-92.6%
|
-95.8%
|
-98.8%
|
|
Defects/machine/month
|
0.045
|
0.048
|
0.013
|
0.047
|
|
Enforcement efforts required
|
Close-up checking of particulars on parking voucher needed
|
Same as mechanical meters
|
Same as mechanical meters
|
Same as mechanical meters
|
|
Revenue protection capacity(2)
|
Good
|
Acceptable
|
Good
|
Good
|
|
Data retrieval and storage quality
|
Acceptable
|
Acceptable
|
Good
|
Good |
Notes :
- Compared with mechanical meters.
- From internal audit angle.
Last Updated on 2 December 1998
