Automated success with car parking

PAY & PARK?
Automated success with car parking
Deccan Herald

Under the pay-and-park system on Brigades, motorists park their cars for up to two hours at varying rates of Rs 5 (30 minutes), Rs 10 (60 minutes), Rs 15 (90 minutes ) and Rs 20 (two hours).

The re-introduction of pay-and-park system in Bangalore continues to be tangled in administrative debate. As police surveys on potential roads under the system run into BMP counter-points, the debate is still very much on. Beginning today, Deccan Herald, in a four-part series, brings to you what worked with pay-and-park, what didn’t and what could be the alternative.

Parking space for close to 1,200 cars through the day; 85 cars at a time. Viewed against Bangalore’s alarmingly north-bound graph of vehicle registrations, the figures could be of mere academic relevance. However, they also point to a largely unsung success story; an example with untapped potential.

Two years after automated car parking was introduced on Brigade Road, shoppers and traders may still swear by the pay-and-park mechanism. The administrative agenda on its re-introduction across Bangalore, however, is deadlocked in debate. “Automated vehicle parking is the solution for at least 60 per cent of the City’s traffic problems. Free parking weighs down the policing logistics involved in the City’s traffic management,” says Suhail Yusuf, President of the Brigade Road Traders Association.

Under the pay-and-park system on Brigades, motorists park their cars for up to two hours at varying rates of Rs 5 (30 minutes), Rs 10 (60 minutes), Rs 15 (90 minutes ) and Rs 20 (two hours). On passing the stipulated time, the vehicle is towed away. There is space for 85 cars on the parking stretch, apart from two special lots for the physically challenged and one for VIPs.

Traders happy

According to Mr Yusuf, members of the Association, who spent nearly Rs 40 lakh on the eight parking meters on the stretch, are happy with how the system has worked. Genuine shoppers - who were earlier strapped for space - have now, by and large, replaced the casual, park-and-walk-around motorists. And the business, has picked up too. “The traders are happy because post-automation, the business has gone by 40 per cent on the stretch,” says Yusuf.

System encore

Commercial Street, that followed the Brigades way, has managed to steer clear of indiscriminate parking to a large extent as well. The two examples can push the pay-and-park case in all commercial pockets of the City. The administrative agenda, however, has been caught amid a lack of consensus between the Traffic Police Department and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike regarding the re-introduction of the system, that was scrapped on April 1, 2005.

If paid parking remains scrapped - even after clear signals from the police that they want it back - the move could lead to more traffic bottlenecks, according to Yusuf. “By doing away with paid parking, we are actually encouraging indiscriminate parking, leading motorists to burn more fuel, while searching for parking space. They can shed the fuel cost on parking,” he says.

That the system on Brigades doesn’t cover two-wheelers -leading to crammed bylanes like Church Street -is an issue that hasn’t been addressed. There are also concerns over long parking hours, as reflected in the figures. “We used to issue as many as 1,623 tickets a day. It has come down to around 1,200 now. There are people who park and are off for shopping or for long lunches,” says Yusuf.

CASHING IN

Apart from easing traffic bottlenecks, automated parking could translate to substantial revenues for the exchequer, according to Yusuf. He says in two years, the Brigade Road parking space has fetched close to Rs 68 lakh, half of which constitutes the BMP’s share. A portion of the rest of the amount has been spent on maintenance and salaries for the guards on duty.

“If implemented on a wider scale across Bangalore, automated parking has the potential to rake in annual revenues of up to Rs 360 crore,” says Yusuf.