Free Parking at Sports Facilities to Encourage Usage

Dr Benedict Tan asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether the Ministry will consider offering free parking at selected sports facilities during non-peak hours to promote the use of these facilities and, hence, physical activity.

Madam, we are always open to ideas to improve sports participation and usage of our sports facilities. But there is also a need to ensure that the limited resources we have are put to good use and achieve their intended objectives. With free parking at sport facilities, there is a risk that the parking lots will be taken up by non-sport users. After all, many of our sports facilities are centrally located close to other amenities and transport hubs. Furthermore, there is no compelling reason why we should skew our support in favour of those who drive to our sports facilities, compared to the many who get there using public transport.

All things considered, therefore, we prefer to channel our resources to measures that can directly benefit all users of sports facilities. This is why we launched ActiveSG last year and we provided ActiveSG members with a $100 credit, which can be used at our ActiveSG sports facilities and programmes. Every Singaporean, whether they drive or take public transport, can be an ActiveSG member and enjoy the $100 credit. The response so far has been very good. And close to 700,000 members have signed up and many are actively using our sports centres and facilities and participating in a wide range of programmes that are available.

We are also building new sports facilities and improving existing ones, so that a majority of Singaporeans will have convenient access to sports and recreational facilities within a 10-minute walk of their homes.

I do run at a few stadiums and, each time I go there, I notice that the car parks are actually quite empty. Would the Minister not consider it such a waste of resources that available car park space is there but people who could have driven there to exercise are not using it? Otherwise, the sports stadium only benefits people who live around the stadium. So, will the Ministry consider allowing free parking just for two hours so that there is still some limitation on the use of car parks?

Madam, I thank Mr Lim for the feedback. If, indeed, the car parks are under-utilised, I think we should more closely examine whether there is a better use of

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the car parks and whether they can be converted to other facilities, like sports facilities, which can benefit more people. As I have said, we want to make the best use of our resources and assets. Space is certainly an important asset for us and we are always looking at how best to directly promote sports participation. If the concern is about under-utilisation of car park space and the fact that we are not making the best use of these space resources or assets that we have, then let us take a look at that particular issue.