CAR PARKING EXPERIENCE & FUTURE

Among the worst elements of vehicle ownership is the ordeal of parking. Most of the time itinvolves a mad dance of circling the block, hunting for an elusive place to park, manoeuvring in a tight space, or rushing to safely vacate your coveted space as an impatient fellow driver looms in your rear-view mirror.

The parking experience could be the next aspect of modern life to be exploited by new technologies and business models. And it goes far beyond Internet of Things applications and connectivity making parking more efficient and painless.A new infrastructure is needed to accommodate Cars, Buses, Two-Wheelers,Auto-Rickshaws and Trucks in a country of our size and population with overcrowded Urban Centres.

Some incumbent parking players as well as new technology entrants are already working to capitalize on these developments by creating new and innovative solutions to regulate demand, optimize supply, and better meet consumer needs.

Parking automation is one of the major elements that can restore some order in the current chaos.New automated car parking systems canoffer large parking facilities using height, depth andwidth intelligently to provide customised needsfor public car parking. Some of these facilities are working effectively in large modern cities likeTokyo and New York.

Private builders in Indiaare also adapting this technology to resolve theirparking woes. Not only are private developerslooking at automated Parking Systems, city planners andarchitects are discussing new ideas to manageautomobiles, even when stationary.We are all aware that cars are moving only 5% of the time to commute and are parked for the remaining 95% and there¬fore when not in use whether at home, office, hospital, roadside, shopping plaza, city centre or college we need to provide for their parking.

For the developerat 32 mts. /car that are required ideally to park a vehicle this is probably the most pinching and expensive use of a real estate.AutomatedParking offers cost advantages in construction andoperation. Labour and infrastructure costsare lower and getting cars in and out is faster.By omitting ramps and walkways,about twice as many cars can be tucked intothe space. By going up vertically 60-70 cars can be placed in a parking space meant for three cars. A wide variety of choices and different Parking Models are available,manyatimes tailor made to a project's requirements.

In cities today where vehicle popu¬lation is almost running at a pace with the human population for example Delhi has a vehicle population of around 90 lacs and no parking policy for public parking. The result is for all of us to see, our Capital City is among the most polluted cities in the world and even short distances are tough to commute if not impossible. This is becoming true of our all major cities be it Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune or Kolkata.

Policy makers and private professionalparking operators can come together and play agreat role in easing this problem with successfulbusiness models encouraging organised parkingand commute.Mumbai City has taken the first Initiative in what seems to be a  good beginning to our Parking Problems,The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now looking forward to setting a 'Parking Authority': Coordinating the efforts of public agencies with respect to parking Establishing and operating public parking facilities where necessary Analysing parking needs and resources for the overall benefit of the public.As mentioned in the Development Plan. The parking authority will be vested with the responsibilities of overseeing parking arrangements in the city and managing the parking spaces.

With Mumbai taking the lead Other cities should follow sooner the better.

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