No slots left in city parking lots
July 01, 2008
New Delhi:
With over 18 lakh private vehicles and parking space to accommodate
barely 25,000, the Capital is reeling under a severe parking crisis.
A recent survey by RITES has revealed that Vishwavidyalaya Metro
station, Old Delhi Railway station, Karol Bagh and Bahadurshah Zafar
Marg to have the most congested parking lots in the city.
Even as the government is planning over 100 new parking lots and
25 multi- level parkings too to tide over the shortage of space,
the survey found that the existing parking lots are bursting at
their seams. At almost all the surveyed lots, including in areas
like Connaught
Place where the parking rates are very high, the vehicular demand
is far exceeding the available space.
The most congested are parkings located at Old Delhi
Railway Station where over 11 vehicles fight for each available
slot, followed by Vishvavidyalaya Metro station with about the same
demand, Karol Bagh, Janakpuri district centre and Kanhaiya Nagar
Metro station. Office areas like Nehru Place and Bahadurshah Zafar
Marg, and markets like South Extention and Vikas Marg too need immediate
solutions.
"Parking demand is very high and it outstrips parking
supply at most locations. At some places, the parking spills out
of the designated area. This indicates lack of adequate parking
spaces and that the spaces are organised in a disorderly manner,"
the survey report observes.
The survey, which is part of Transport Demand Forecast Study and
Development of an Integrated Road cum Multi-modal Public Transport
Network for NCT of Delhi carried out for Delhi government by RITES,
analysed parking data for 100 off and on-street locations for 12-hour
durations. The selected parking lots were chosen at varied places,
like metro stations, shopping areas, work centres, Lajpat Rai Market
and Town Hall in the walled city and government offices.
As over 950 new vehicles are being added to Delhi roads everyday,
the problem is only going to get more acute in the days to come
with cheaper car models being introduced too. The government's policies
of hiking parking rates and creating multi-level parking lots, experts
feel, are such temporary measures as the added parking space will
soon get filled up too.
The solution, then, is in dissuading people from taking out private
cars for short distance trips by providing them more efficient alternatives.
As Dr S Gangopadhyay, head of traffic and transportation, Central
Road Research Institute (CRRI) puts it: "The problem
of lack of parking space is turning out to be a major issue in Delhi,
especially in the light of the increasing vehicular population.
Plans of constructing multi-level and underground parking spaces
are all okay, but they are only a part of the solution."
The government, he added, needs to promote intermediary public
transport (IPT) modes such as autos and taxis. "By
doing this, they can reduce travel by cars and automatically, problems
of parking will also get sorted," Dr Gangopadhyay added.
The trend, according to the RITES report, is to park for short
durations, and except for metro stations, it was found that Delhiites
generally park their vehicles for less than four hour duration.
This is a clear reflection of the fact that wherever people are
given an alternative, they are ready to leave their cars and switch
to public transport. But the mode needs to be safe, comfortable,
reliable and affordable.
The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) had also recently
proposed construction of multi-level parking lots near Delhi
Metro stations and bus stops so that they can be integrated
with the multi-modal transport systems coming up in the city. At
present, the city has about 373 operational parking lots under MCD
and NDMC, and about 50 more which are managed by Delhi Metro.
Source: The Times of India
|
