Free lunchtime parking planned for Yishun Park Hawker Centre

Free lunchtime parking and covered walkways are just some ways the Timbre Group is trying to woo patrons to the Yishun Park Hawker Centre.

The 43-stall establishment in Yishun Avenue 11 has been struggling to bring in customers since its opening last September.

At a dialogue at Nee Soon East Community Centre yesterday, hawkers raised issues with revenue and infrastructure and complaints about the automated systems at the modern-concept hawker centre.

One of the main concerns was that of footfall. The hawker centre, nestled in a mostly residential estate, suffers at weekday lunchtime due to the lack of office crowds.

"We're still coping, but it's not good," said a hawker who declined to be named, adding that the human traffic was "below par".

To attract a larger lunchtime crowd, the hawker centre will have initiatives such as free weekday lunchtime parking from 12pm to 2pm, for a maximum of one hour, starting tomorrow.

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It will also partner Grab to offer discount codes to those travelling to the hawker centre.

Other initiatives being planned include sheltered walkways and an umbrella-sharing programme for bad weather.

"When it rains, it's total chaos," said a western food hawker, Mr Yeo.

"No one can come in unless you drive."

Some hawkers are optimistic about the planned initiatives, with Mr Chen Wen Kai, 41, owner of the White Bee Hoon stall, hoping for a 10 per cent to 15 per cent increase in business.

The hawker centre is the testing ground for new ideas, with the aim to attract the younger generation to the hawker trade.

It houses an "incubator programme'' for first-time hawkers, some in their early 20s, and incorporates innovation such as a tray return system and a cashless system, in which patrons paying via a mobile app can get a 10 per cent discount.

Some hawkers, however, were less than pleased about the discount programme. Mr Yeo said that the discount eats into revenue, "so when 60 per cent to 80 per cent of the crowd is using the app, we need to mark up the prices to cover".