The Taipei City Government yesterday acknowledged the poor design of the outdoor parking lot at the Guanghua Electronics Mall and promised to improve the situation after drivers said the design was a factor behind damage to their cars.
The parking lot, occupying about 8,260m² next to the mall on Bade Road, has an uneven surface and low parking barriers that drivers accidentally hit, damaging their car bumpers, New Party Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said, adding that several drivers protested against the poor design at the parking lot yesterday.
Showing pictures of broken bumpers and cars with scratches, Wang said many drivers hit the parking barriers because the surface was uneven and the barriers were too low to be picked up by parking detection systems.
“The city government has argued that the parking lot is a temporary one and has ignored the problem. We need the government to do a better job maintaining parking lots and protecting users’ rights,” Wang said.
Taipei City’s Department of Finance owns the land the lot is on. The city has commissioned Hon Hai Precision Industry Co to build a “Taipei Information Park” on the site, with construction scheduled to begin next year.
A driver surnamed Chuang said he had hit the parking barriers and scratched his car several times.
“The barriers are too low and it is very easy to hit them. I always pay extra attention now when I park there,” he said.
Chuang said he had not sought compensation from the city’s Parking Management and Development Office, but he urged the office to fix the problem to prevent similar accidents.
Chen Eong-jeng (陳雍政), a division chief at the office, acknowledged that the parking lot was poorly designed and had not been properly maintained, but added that it was only a temporary lot that would be handed over to Hon Hai next year.
“We do not have a plan to improve the design because the parking lot will be given to Hon Hai next year. Redesigning the parking lot would be a waste of money,” he said.
However, Chen promised to remove the parking barriers within a week to prevent further accidents.
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