Parking

Parking in Mumbai (An Invisible Monster Nibbling at All Roads)

Era of procrastination, half measures , soothing expedients and of delays is
coming to an end . In its place, we are entering a period of consequences.

Parking has become a headache for the thousands of motorists who want to but can’t find space and those who want to simply walk! Mumbai roads have more cars/km than any other city in the world and are used by vehicles registered in Mumbai as well as a substantial part of registration in Thane, Panvel etc. Roads in Mumbai are used by 800,000 cars, 1500,000 two wheelers, 15000 commercial vehicles and 13000 buses Growth rate for vehicles is 9 % pa (vs. 2.5% in population and less than 0.5% in road space.) Total area of Greater Mumbai is 450 sq km and road length is 1975 km.

Three Parking Spaces for every new Car are Needed

Every year, 60,000 cars are added. With Nano, this number will go up further. Each new car requires three parking spaces (which doesn’t travel with the car each day) one at residence, one at work place and one for other occasions. Each car requires about 100 sq ft for parking. Thus 60,000 new cars require 150 acres of parking spaces.

Parking Census - Dadar West ( 2006) identified :
(Area covered - 5.6 sq km & 14.5 km road lengths )

1692 vehicles were parked legally and free
2320 vehicles parked on roads illegally
only 20 cars parked in the only pay and park lot in the area

Such a census of parking in Whole of Mumbai is needed . We estimate over 150,000 cars are parked on road whereas regular parking lots provide only 7000 spaces in over 120 parking lots ( mostly in south Mumbai ). About 700 spaces are provided in two multi story lots at a fee of Rs. 15 + per hour. But the occupancy is not much.

How Do We Discourage Illegal Parking?

In 2007, Traffic Police apprehended 2.75 lakh cases of illegal parking thru towing vans and collected Rs. 7.56 cr. ( Rs. 200 towing charges & Rs.100 fine /car )
The no of towing vans is 61 and total cases per day per van work out to only 15 as per info received from Traffic Police.
Estimated chances of an illegally towed vehicle being towed are about 5%

The Potential for Universal Pay & Park in Mumbai :

About 75000 spaces on road/off road can be under a universal pay and park system using proper marking, management & tariffs ranging from Rs. 10 to Rs. 25/hr based on locations and size of car ( why should Nano and Innova pay the same , when the latter occupies double the space?) We should encourage use of prepaid smart cards for making cashless payment based on metered , supervised and safe parking which can be possible only at higher tariff which will encourage short term over the long term parking and hence the rates per hour should not decline for longer periods. Commuters should not find parking throughout day inexpensive !It will creat market for high quality high speed bus and AC train commuting which will significantly reduce traffic congestion .

Parking Fees is the Best form of User Fees: in a highly congested city like Mumbai. There should be very few areas in the city where free parking should be possible or permitted on road.

To improve the compliance , we need to supplement the system of ticket fixing on the car advising direct payment of fine ( ranging from Rs. 300 to Rs 1000) thru the use of IT in a dedicated bank account. This will reduce corruption , towing and increase the chances of getting caught several times and this will be a perfect deterrent. By substantially reducing free parking and making users of road space pay a fair price will automatically encourage good behavior. It will be good even for motorists. This will also raise the parking revenue from a paltry Rs. 6 cr/pa to a level of Rs. 60 to Rs. 100 cr pa.

What do you think ?
Is it right to park anywhere at no or negligible parking fees? and then still complain why there are no parking places?

Pl voice your views of how we should tackle the parking problem .

Why Parking situation is bad and getting worse by the Day?

Since very few pay and park lots are added.
The average hourly tariff of Rs.4/hr is unchanged since 1992.
Over 2/3 of cars driven by chauffeurs for who keep on shuffling vehicles.
Fear of being caught & level of fines are not a strong deterrent
A high incidence of illegal parking by taxies, buses, trucks and water tankers
M V Asia – an international consultant recommended in 2006 to establish Unified Parking Authority for Mumbai and raising of parking fees to Rs. 20 and more per hour. Its suggestions have been completely ignored.

The Multi Story or Underground Parking Solution

The corporation is only considering “developing a few multi story or underground parking lots – mostly in South Mumbai and that too at very high cost ( rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh in construction cost alone ) to be subsidized by either giving free FSI or additional commercial development which will only further increase demand for parking !) Current experience at Inox suggests that people don’t use such high cost parking islands when elsewhere one can park free or at a low rate. In any case, such solutions will take years and will provide only about 2000 to 3000 spaces !

What are the solutions?

Prevent parking on main arteries so that buses ( and other vehicles ) can run smoother and faster. One car parked within 200 meters blocks a lane
Convert free both side parking in most lanes into single side paid parking .
Provide area night parking permits for residents on a small fee .
Where parking should be allowed mostly paid and regulated and marked on road in the form of boxes.
If there is no marking , it should mean no parking and at bus stops and junctions, there should be special no parking high fines marking .

What Should be Parking Fees ?

We should not have same fees for Nano and Innova. Similarly, Hutatma Chowk and side lanes off any major artery ( where parking should be banned during the day and available on small payment for a quarterly pass in the night for residents ) should not have same tariff. We propose that:
cars should be classified into two categories – small and large And roads into A & B classes depending upon property prices, congestion levels and side streets should be classified into C class