HK$600M Car Park Services and Facilities Enhancements

As the manager of the largest portfolio of car parks in Hong Kong, The Link REIT ("The Link") aims to provide quality services by enhancing its car park facilities. Recently, The Link pioneered the introduction of Hong Kong’s first-ever Car Park Tailgating Detection System (“CPTDS”), which serves to reduce the incidence of car theft and sets car owners’ mind at ease.

Overall, The Link has invested over $600 million to improve the services and facilities at its 178 car parks, including installing the CPTDS. The detection system features infrared sensors on both sides of the exit gate of the car park, which serve to alert the staff in the control room of the car park through SMS or email if 2 cars exit at the same time at a distance less than 20cm. This expedites the process by tracking the missing car. The roll-out of the CPTDS directly addresses vehicle theft and assures car owners that they can safely park their cars in The Link’s car parks. It is expected that the installation of the CPTDS in all of The Link’s car parks will be completed by the first quarter of 2014.

“In order to further secure our car parks in the interest of our users, The Link has been gradually digitising its car parks’ CCTV systems to expand the scope and timeframe of our monitoring capabilities,” said Mr Charles Hui, General Manager – Car Park & Management Support of The Link Management Limited. “We have invested $15 million to upgrade 4,500 CCTVs in our car parks from analogue mode to digital video mode. Furthermore, we have invested $12 million to install 750 additional network CCTVs, bringing the total number of network CCTVs to 5,250, which has increased coverage from 70% to 90% and has further improved our monitoring capability and flexibility.”

“Over the past few years, tens of millions of dollars have been used on large-scale construction and varnishing work for more than 10 car parks. Going forward, over $400 million will be invested to refurbish the car parks, improve the parking environment and enhance the services and facilities. In addition, T5 energy-saving fluorescent tubes will be installed in all car parks, electric car charging bays will be equipped and barrier free access facilities in the car parks will be enhanced. The total investment amount, including the refurbishment and these additional enhancements, will total over $600 million,” Hui added.

Additionally, The Link has improved services in its car parks to meet the needs of drivers. For example, drivers with negative values on their Octopus cards are allowed to access the car parks before adding value to their cards. Clear service standards and requirements have also been mapped out for the benefit of service contractors to improve service quality and cater to the needs of car park users.