The parking tower along Jalan Tun Razak, near the US embassy, was unveiled in October, 2017, but technical issues have delayed its operations. It is managed by M.A. Intelligent Parking (M) Sdn Bhd.
According to employees manning the entrance to the facility, "tests are still being conducted" and they expect it to open for business by February. M.A. Intelligent Parking group CEO Datuk Seri Dr Muhammad Isa Kasim was not available for comment at the time of this post.
The 24-level automated car park uses an integrated multilevel parking system from Japan and has a capacity of 199 cars. Six bays are underground and nine are so-called Puzzle bays, and all are equipped with hoists to move parked cars around. The Puzzle bays have nine slots and send cars up.
Bay doors to the parking tower.
The Puzzle parking bays has nine slots and sends cars up.
These two bays move cars underground.
The main tower with its 184 bays has three entrances for cars and a fourth designed to accept larger vehicles that include multipurpose vehicles, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. The tower is designed to operate non-stop seven days a week.
At present, a promotional fee of RM13 per entry is being charged for those who want to use the facility’s open bays in front of the parking tower. In the interim period, it opens from 7am to 7pm from Monday to Friday only.
“The car park is partly opened, but I think no one really parks there because the fee is quite high,” said Sabrina Sim who works in an office building nearby.
READ MORE:
First automated mechanical parking service for Malaysia
Automated parking garages help ease congestion
When the parking tower is finally opened, the operator will offer three packages: a monthly season Pass (price to be announced), a daily Premier Pass (RM13) and a Prepaid Pass (top-up of RM50 required).
To use the facility, a driver will be issued an access card that needs to be tapped at the card reader and the vehicle's registration details entered. The vehicle's side mirrors must be folded in and other protrusions including long antennas must be retracted/stowed before moving the vehicle into the bay.
Once the vehicle is positioned properly, the driver alights from the vehicle and press the "Safety" button followed by the "Go" button. The bay doors will close and the car will be hoisted to an available slot in the tower.
To retrieve the vehicle, the driver must tap the access card at the reader of the exit gate. The system would then locate the vehicle and send it to the exit bay for the driver to collect and drive off. Retrieval time is usually around two minutes.
