Goodbye Coupons! Your essential guide to Kuching parking with the Pay & Go Smart System

Kuching is ushering in a new era of urban mobility as Pay & Go Sdn. Bhd. is officially appointed as the new public parking management for both Kuching South (MBKS) and Kuching North (DBKU).

This means Pay & Go would manage public parking in Kuching City, taking over from Kuching City Parking System Sdn Bhd (KCPS) whose contract has now concluded.

As previously mentioned, the new public parking management (now unveiled as Pay & Go) would introduce Kuching’s very own version of ‘smart parking system’ and they will be known as a Smart Parking Operator as they begin their operations with a trial phase starting on November 1, 2025.

Full operations will commence in January 2026 with Pay & Go given a 10 years concession period with an option for a 5-year extension, subject to performance review and mutual agreement.

This move to improve Kuching’s public parking comes following a comprehensive Request for Proposal process, signals a major step towards digitalizing municipal services and aligning with Sarawak’s Smart City initiatives.

Kuching public parking rates under Pay & Go management

The parking rates which were previously enforced in Kuching would remain unchanged,

This includes season parking and reserved parking.

Therefore, parking rates on public street parking would remain at RM0.20 for the first 30 minutes, followed by RM0.50 for subsequent 30 minutes, and RM0.80 for subsequent 30 minutes.

Benefits of the new Kuching parking system

The new system offers significant benefits for Kuching motorists, but to do so, one would need to download, or update their Pay & Go App.

The new Pay & Go App eliminates the need for paper coupons, enabling fast, secure, and cashless payments for both on-street and off-street parking.

Off-street parking covers parking areas in buildings and malls, with Pay & Go already covering major buildings in the city to date.

Users can conveniently manage parking registration, payments, and time extensions directly from their GPS-enabled mobile application.

Enforcement is strengthened by License Plate Recognition (LPR) smart scanning technology used by wardens, ensuring greater efficiency and accountability.

Season passes are also available for purchase on the updated app.

The system includes features like reminder notifications for outstanding payments and real-time data collection for improved urban planning. To ensure you don’t get compounded for overparking, enable notifications from the app, and ensure you pay the required parking fees.

Refunds and compounds under outgoing Kuching City Parking System

As previously mentioned, the use of parking coupons will continue during the transition phase.

However, those using the BorneoParkKCH app will need to seek refunds if they still have cash balance in their respective apps.

As mentioned previously, refunds can only be claimed via KCPS office before 15 November 2025.

Those who have overdue parking compounds and fines under KCPS will also need to settle their respective compounds with both MBKS and DBKU offering 50 per cent discount for them to do so.

There seems to be plans to carry the compounds to the new parking management system, but such decision will only be announced once discussions are completed.

On-going awareness campaign and non-app users

Both MBKS and DBKU are focusing on user convenience and public awareness as the new system rolls out.

To facilitate the transition, Pay & Go will also install payment kiosks for debit card transactions for those who are not tech-savvy or are not using the app.

For those already on the app, paying for parking in Kuching should greatly improved once it runs officially on November 1st.

Information & image source: Pay & Go , Borneo Post