TRANSIT took note of this article below, which actually talks alot about the lack of parking space at Putrajaya Hospital and the subsequent indiscriminate parking.
The irony (of course) is that Putrajaya Hospital is within 800m of the Putrajaya Sentral transport terminal, but because of the design of buildings within Putrajaya (as well as incomplete pedestrian walkways in the area) it is nearly impossible to walk between the two structures.
Please note: We would not expect those who are less able or ill to walk the distance between the two structures – our point is that we could do a lot more to make pedestrian movement much easier – which would do a lot to reduce this indiscriminate parking.
Anyways, going back to the article, we have highlighted all the points that we think are relevant:
Parking woes at hospital (The Star)
Thursday May 6, 2010
By CHARLES FERNANDEZ charlesf@thestar.com.my
Photos by LOW LAY PHONTHE number of visitors to the Putrajaya Hospital has grown over the years, and this has created a nightmarish situation in terms of traffic congestion every morning in this otherwise quiet enclave.
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Being a premier institution and the only health centre catering for the large Putrajaya pupulation and neighbouring areas of Bangi and Dengkil, the number of parking bays at the hospital is obviously not enough.
Caught: A police officer writing out a summons for a car that was obstructing traffic near the Putrajaya Hospital.“Imagine when it is raining heavily. I have personally seen senior citizens having a tough time making it to the hospital in such circumstances. Most of the limited parking bays are taken up by the hospital staff, sending visitors on a wild goose chase for parking space outside the hospital’s compound,’’ said Maman.
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The hospital is located near the ERL and the Putrajaya Sentral bus terminal and this has also further contributed to the nightmarish parking situation.
“The entire area comes to a gridlock during those core hours of 7am to 11am and the impact can be adverse especially for those rushing to seek treatment at the hospital,’’ said a Putrajaya resident.
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Hospital director Dr Nora’i Mohd Said since the beginning of the year the hospital has been providing free shuttle services for visitors who opt to park their vehicles at Putrajaya Sentral.
“We are proving a service similar to the Putrajaya Park n’ Ride services in view of the limited parking bays and the congestion caused by haphazard parking in the parking premises and the main lobby area. The service is available from 6.30am to 10.30am,’’ she said in a statement.
Nora’i said they are in discussion to alleviate the parking prroblems.
TRANSIT Says:
Spin, spin, spin. As you can see from the article, the spin is in. Hence, TRANSIT had to perform a reverse spin so that the debate could be neutralized.
Frankly, for some Malaysians, not having adequate parking is a horrible situation and they must respond by indiscriminately parking their vehicles wherever they can find space – never mind the hazards or inconvenience that they might be causing to others.
Then when they are ‘punished’ for their actions (hey, you can have outstanding summonses and still renew your driver’s license) they blame the “system” for not meeting their needs.
And in this case, a shuttle bus service is provided, but people probably don’t know about the service or don’t care to use it.
Now, we at TRANSIT prefer to complain about other things in Putrajaya – like the lack of bus shelters in the main boulevard, the sky high taxi coupon charge, the lack of information (with real maps) about bus routes and the fact that people do not seem to use the public transport and park & ride services even though the government has spent millions of RM to buy the buses.
Transit Malaysia 