The Hindu    17.08.2012

“Charge more for surface parking than multi-level”

Jiby Kattakayam

Devesh K. Pandey

The Environmental Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority
(EPCA) presentation on a new parking policy for Delhi before the
Lieutenant-Governor on Thursday argued that the rate of parking for
surface parking should be kept higher than multi-level parking
facilities.

Other suggestions related to pricing made by Ms.
Sunita Narain and Mr. Bhure Lal at the meeting on behalf of EPCA were to
keep parking rates variable based on peak and non-peak hours, number of
hours parked, and different categories of lands and colonies.

They
argued that parking rates should be higher for long-term users as this
would incentivise short-term users. Rates should also reflect the cost
of building parking facilities and the cost of land used up for parking.

It
was also suggested that the parking rates be based on categorisation of
colonies as identified by the local agencies for property tax and other
purposes.

One of the suggestions was to charge Rs.30 for the
first hour and Rs.40 for each subsequent hour in pockets where the
demand for parking space is very high. However, parking along the road
would cost even more, as per the suggestions.

“Parking charges should hurt the pocket”

“The
emphasis is on increasing parking charges to a level where it hurts the
pocket, discouraging people from using private vehicles,” said an
official who attended the meeting. The official said it was also
proposed to use the one-time parking charge levied on newly-purchased
vehicles — which presently goes to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
coffers — directly for the development and upkeep of parking lots. “If
vehicle owners are made to pay more, they deserve a better
infrastructure, a decent parking space,” said the official.

Raising
questions on the efficacy of the proposed system, the official said if
the focus was indeed on discouraging use of public parking space, the
authorities should rather develop a reliable and efficient public
transport system, primarily involving taxis and auto-rickshaws. “If a
taxi/auto-rickshaw is made available in time, most people would prefer
not using personal vehicles as no one would after all want to pay such
high parking charges,” the official added.

The presentation also
advocated that para-transport like taxis and auto-rickshaws should not
have to pay parking charges which was agreed to by the L-G.

An
important ingredient of the presentation was enforcement of parking
rules through levying of increased and special penalties under the
Municipal Act. They said the current system of towing away vehicles
using cranes was not effective.