The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has gazetted five new car-lite precincts. They are Marina South, Kampong Bugis, Woodlands North, Bayshore, and Jurong Lake District.

These are the five car-lite precincts:

What is a car-lite precinct?

As its name suggests, car-lite precincts are aimed at discouraging car use through building up closely-connected public transport and active mobility networks.

Think trains, buses, bicycles, and personal mobility devices, but there will also be options for car-sharing and on-demand autonomous vehicles.

For example, the Jurong Lake District will be served by the future Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line. There, each development will be only five minutes away from an MRT station or bus stop.

Over at the Marina South precinct, which is designed as an urban village, its main street will be car-free. The area will be served by MRT stations along the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL).

Commercial and community spaces will also be located on the ground floor so its streets will be active.

Fewer parking spaces for new private residences & offices

In line with Singapore's drive (ha!) to decrease reliance on cars, the LTA has also rolled out new parking provisions for new developments, called Range-based Parking Provision Standards.

Previously, developers had to set a minimum number of parking spaces in their developments under the Car Parking Standard (CPS). If they wanted to decrease the number of spaces, they would have to fork out a deficiency charge.

Under the new parking provision standards, developers are given the flexibility to build a range (instead of a minimum number) of parking spaces.

All new private developments will be demarcated into the following zones:

• Zone 1: City (Restricted Zone) and Marina Bay, except Zone 4.
• Zone 2: Areas within 400m radius from a rapid transit system station outside Zone 1, except Zone 4.
• Zone 3: All other areas except Zone 4.
• Zone 4: Gazetted car-lite precincts.

For commercial, private residential, retail, food & beverage, and hotel developments in Zones 1 and 2, the minimum number of spaces allowed will be decreased by 50 per cent from the previous minimum standard.

The maximum number of spaces will either stay at the CPS minimum or be decreased by 20 per cent, depending on the development type. 

For all other uses in Zones 1 and 2, and all developments in Zone 3, the minimum number of parking lots will be set at 20 per cent of the CPS minimum. The maximum number of lots will be maintained at the CPS minimum.

For Zone 4 (car-lite precincts), parking provisions will be decided upon on a case-by-case basis.

Developers who allocate parking spaces below or above the allowable range will be charged S$16,000 per car parking space or S$5,500 per motorcycle space.

You can read the LTA's announcement on this in full here.

Top images via URA.