[MAS]

Originally Posted by shamanth

But how will government improve infrastructure of your house ? Parking inside home is our responsibility, govt cannot build a parking space in our house.

I meant the reason given by the government "reduce traffic congestion" and not the parking inside our homes. How will the government ensure that the proof given is his parking space? This will lead to corruption once again. Instead the government should impose fines on the people parking on the roads.

[raghu.t.k]

I think this is really an immature move. Agreed that the parking on the road blocks free flow, but parking in front of the house is mostly at night or weekends. How are they going to improve the parking issue during the day when people drive their cars to the office. I think, we should first have this targetted at commercial buildings rather than residential area. All commercial buildings should have parking space for a sizeable users and visitors as well. Also in cities like London, not everyone has a garage, and its legal to park the vehicle on the road after getting permission from the council. Today most offices and high rise residential complexes have a rule not to allow visitor parking, who is going to control this?

Also how much of the public transport is improved to encourage the public to use this? We are still ages away in having a reliable intergrated transport mode. And ideal situation would be to have metro or mmts to commute for large areas and buses for the shorter one. This would reduce the congestions and encourage the people to take the public transport. Also the availablity, reliablity and safety is very much required. Today with a round the clock working culture, there needs to be safe and comfortable travel available for the public.

[puchoo]

interesting article , does not deal with the issue at at macro level but how a few localities tackled the problem


Parking problems: Residents score where govt fails - Hindustan Times

[navan49]

Though there are lots of inconveniences it is a good move to reduce the congestions. We really see the problems in the streets. A20 feet road two vehicles are parked on either side. It is difficult to take a bigger vehicle at times of shifting a house or buses to drop on occasional functions etc.Of course the sales will hit head along. But it is some thing good in disguise.

[mmxylorider]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The people who will most profit from this move would be the builder who will charge hell of a premium for parking slots in the buildings. Instead of forcing the car manufacturers and the municipal authorities to come up with possible parking solutions, penalizing the car buyers is not the correct approach. This will drag down the sales which will inturn force the car manufacturer lobby to pressurize the govt to reverse it.

+1 to this. The cost of a covered park in Pune is close to an average 2.5L. This because slots are less that flats! and thus easy money for the builder. Open slots are 50K +. Govt should also enforce builders to provide for 1.5 times slots as there are flats - Then we would be getting somewhere.

Originally Posted by AdityaLN

It's not going to happen. It will open a can of worms. I have parking space for one car. If some one else in the family is buying a second one how will the RTO check if this spot is already attached to a car. What if, I am renting and I had a parking space when I bought a car but later I shift and that place has no parking?

All this would result in would be an additional source of revenue for the registering authorities.

What would be the proof of parking space? A letter from builder - easily forged! Personally - I don't think any of these ideas will fly.

[mrsherlock]

This is a ridiculous solution to a problem created by lack of planning and corruption. As per my knowledge (at least here in Pune) when selling new flats in a building the builder cannot charge for parking space but that does not stop builders from selling parking spots any way. So buyers who are already shelling out large sums of money for a flat skimp on parking space unless it is absolutely needed.

Recently we saw opening of a D-mart and a Reliance Mart in our area. However, there is minimal parking space available in the premises of these big shops. So obviously the customers visiting these shops park their 2 and 4 wheelers on the already crowded road causing traffic chaos evey day in the area. Whoever approved the plan for these stores did not make sure enough parking space was made available by these stores. I think there should be zoning laws like in the west that mandate minimum parking space to be made available by new establishments/new development based on area in square feet they are building.

[BheemBoy]

This is one of the most idiotic ideas.
How many of us have own houses? And how many have separate parking slots to go with their houses?

What will people living on rent with car do? (if there is no dedicated slot)

[entropy]

The intentions are noble. The implementation is where this would be a problem. Why does our govt keeps inventing ways to generate more grease for the babus. Overall a ridiculous and impractical move for our conditions.

[nipunkul]

if enforced properly, the first on the radar has to be shops, commercial establishments like banks and fin. services, and restaurants, since these are definitely the gross offenders in making no parking provisions for customers. They also tend to be on the busiest roads. Solutions for them would be pooling money and building a multilevel parking (MLP) with say 500 cars space, every 1 km on the busy road, so people can park safely and walk to establishments. Govt can play its part by giving the MLP land free. In case the road has already marked parking slots, shops/establishments must pay for those.

Next is office spaces, which do have parking, but dont allow visitors. These are also often on busy roads and must be asked to pay for space in front of the building to the local development authority, which will hopefully use the money for making a proper pavement, if they office does want its visitors to park outside. Many offices will simply find some interior space rather than pay for what does not belong to them

Third is the auto/vikram/rickshaw wallahs who think all of the road is parking space, especially near intersections. All public transport should be fined heavily for stopping within 50m of an intersection. This itself would open up a lot of road space.

Fourth is the builders who make flats but no covered parking spaces. This is more of buyers not wanting to spend, and the builder not seeing the demand. Simple solution is to make buying parking space (at half of the per sqft rate) with every flat mandatory. (So a 17x9 space will cost 3L at 4k per sqft).

Lastly the homeowners who have made no parking facility inside their house/villa/builder floor. They cannot be penalized for doing what was entirely legal at the time of building. However, they must pay nominally for using the road to park, and slots must be painted on every residential area road, so any incorrectly parked vehicle is fined heavily. Also, these homeowners can choose to pay for more than one slot on the road, but the price for the second slot onwards should be more than the cost of parking in an MLP or a Mall. This means they would find it harder to find tenants with cars, who would go for the cheaper option (flats).

Of course any measure like this will see initial resistance and investment, but land is the most limited of all resources, and there is no option but to shell out for it, especially given the huge boost in number of vehicles vying for parking space.

[mayankjha1806]

Not sure what are they trying to achieve, the traffic jam because of folks parking on the road side is usually a day phenomenon and most folks who park there in day time have parking slots available at home to park at night. They came there for some work or shopping and have parked the cars on roadside.

So this in no way will help decongesting the traffic.

[Holyghost]

The idea is good, but difficult to implement here. Instead charge heavy fine or if possible tow away all illegally parked vehicles.

[mitrajdeep]

From what I heard, after this rule was introduced in Sikkim, car sales have dropped there.

Now the people of Sikkim buy the cars from the nearby city of Siliguri which is in West Bengal and thus they do not have to show any parking space.

[Aroy]

We live in an independent house, facing a park, hence the park side is used for parking. Between my two sons and I, we own three cars. The house to our Left has three flats and six cars. The house to our right has two flats occupied and five cars. Now the owner of third flat is coming and that will add another two cars. I have no problem parking three cars as the frontage is just enough. What about my neighbours, they have a tough time parking. They have started parking on both sides of the road, and soon there will be just enough space to drive a narrow vehicle between parked vehicles. In locations where the houses face each other, the situation is grimmer. Now for no fault of mine I may be facing parking problems. This is where the legislation comes in. If you have a single parking desist from getting more vehicles and creating problems for others.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The people who will most profit from this move would be the builder who will charge hell of a premium for parking slots in the buildings. Instead of forcing the car manufacturers and the municipal authorities to come up with possible parking solutions, penalizing the car buyers is not the correct approach. This will drag down the sales which will inturn force the car manufacturer lobby to pressurize the govt to reverse it.

This idea of limiting car sales is implemented in both Hong Kong and Singapore. So why not in India. Well if you are paying for the house and the car, you might as well as pay for parking, it is just another cost. Time was when the road tax was less than a hundred rupees a year. Today I can get an Alto K10 for the cost of road tax on a Pajero. In case I get a 5 series or an E class, the road tax could buy a Polo! So like Road Tax, you have a "Parking Fee" now added to the cost of ownership of the vehicle. In Delhi, most of the high rise buildings have parking for at least two cars per dwelling unit, and some have more.

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Definitely. Be ready to pay extra dough just to get your car parked whenever you venture outside.

The Government spends money on roads, for people to drive. If we use up the space for parking, we are creating long term problems for our selves. In Delhi, I have seen roads in colonies choked with parked cars, to the extent that you cannot take your car out if it is a bit inside, till the other owners have gone to work.

Originally Posted by puchoo

There is already enough leeway which has been granted on construction by the government to allow for parking - for example in Delhi ( atleast certain colonies) , an extra floor has been allowed if the ground floor is utilized for parking , the unfortunate aspect is that its simply being taken advantage of. People get the additional space , make the parking space as well but end up parking on the roads nevertheless.

In fact in Delhi, all new constructions have to provide around 1.5 parking slots/dwelling unit. If you have 4 flats, there should be parking space for at least 6 vehicles.

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

I think this is really an immature move. Agreed that the parking on the road blocks free flow, but parking in front of the house is mostly at night or weekends. How are they going to improve the parking issue during the day when people drive their cars to the office. I think, we should first have this targetted at commercial buildings rather than residential area. All commercial buildings should have parking space for a sizeable users and visitors as well. Also in cities like London, not everyone has a garage, and its legal to park the vehicle on the road after getting permission from the council. Today most offices and high rise residential complexes have a rule not to allow visitor parking, who is going to control this?

Also how much of the public transport is improved to encourage the public to use this? We are still ages away in having a reliable intergrated transport mode. And ideal situation would be to have metro or mmts to commute for large areas and buses for the shorter one. This would reduce the congestions and encourage the people to take the public transport. Also the availablity, reliablity and safety is very much required. Today with a round the clock working culture, there needs to be safe and comfortable travel available for the public.

. At one time, you could not park your vehicle at night on the roads in Calcutta. Police would tow it away, so every one who wanted to own a car had to arrange for a garage.

. All new Malls in Delhi, have multilevel parking in the Basements. Even older commercial areas have started implementing dedicated multilevel parking buildings. As these are expensive, visitors still park on the road, but that will finally end as more parking is created. Try parking on the road in major cities in West, and your vehicle will be towed resulting in heavy fines.

. Once the roads are freed of parking, there will be ample space for visitors to park.

. For public transport to flourish it has to be patronised. I remember, when we were kids, there were very few personal vehicles, and all of us traveled by public transport. It is only now that personal transport is proliferating that we shun the public transport. Any way with Metro coming to Delhi, there has been quite a relief on the roads, as a lot of point-to-point traffic is taken care of by the Metro.

Originally Posted by mitrajdeep

From what I heard, after this rule was introduced in Sikkim, car sales have dropped there.

Now the people of Sikkim buy the cars from the nearby city of Siliguri which is in West Bengal and thus they do not have to show any parking space.

What would you like
. Fewer cars and open roads, so that driving is a pleasure
. Lots of cars, jamming the roads, making the daily commute a horrifying experience.

In my opinion, it is better to have less car sales and walk to the nearest public transport point, than to experience a never ending traffic jam, which not only negates the idea of personal transport, but increases the pollution, resulting in increasing incidence of diseases.

The car explosion in US was primarily due to sparsely populated areas which needed connectivity and lack of public transport. And look where it landed them - never ending jams on the West Coast freeways, and extremely crowded roads in the metros. In Europe where the public transport is excellent, there are a lot less personal vehicles clogging the roads.

Any way our discussion is Academic in the sense that soon the fossil fuels will peter out, and much before that available fuel would be appropriated by the Government for its use. So will you be bothered about parking space if Petrol/Diesel costs upwards of Rs.2,000/ liter at today's prices, and be rationed as well?

[interest]

This is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. Many people are forced to buy a car only because public transport in India sucks. Even in Bombay, where earlier auto rickshaws would not refuse fair and follow the meter, the situation has gone from bad to worse. The auto drivers openly admit to meter tampering and whats worse is that the govt. instead of taking action buckled under pressure. There are two ways of reducing vehicles on road- a) first make public transport comfortable and seamless so that people choose it over driving b) make driving prohibitively expensive, do not repair roads or pass stupid laws like the one being discussed here so that people are forced to travel in public transport (at the risk dying due to suffocation in local trains).
We all know what is the more desirable option from the two. Most of the developed countries have made use of personal vehicle expensive but only after providing adequate public transport options.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by interest

This is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. Many people are forced to buy a car only because public transport in India sucks. Even in Bombay, where earlier auto rickshaws would not refuse fair and follow the meter, the situation has gone from bad to worse. The auto drivers openly admit to meter tampering and whats worse is that the govt. instead of taking action buckled under pressure. There are two ways of reducing vehicles on road- a) first make public transport comfortable and seamless so that people choose it over driving b) make driving prohibitively expensive, do not repair roads or pass stupid laws like the one being discussed here so that people are forced to travel in public transport (at the risk dying due to suffocation in local trains).
We all know what is the more desirable option from the two. Most of the developed countries have made use of personal vehicle expensive but only after providing adequate public transport options.

As I had posted earlier, there was a time when personal vehicles were a prerogative of the Rich & Mighty. All of us traveled by public transport, whether for pleasure or profession. It is only now that with rising personal income that personal trasportation is rearing its ugly head. No amount of rhetoric is going to wish away the congestion and resultant jams, unless we change our mind set.

I bet you have never traveled from north to south in rush hour. My Mumbai friends say that a 2 hours plus time is required to undertake what would be a 45min train journey. Even in Delhi, try traveling from Gurgaon to South Delhi, let alone CP. A 30 min Metro ride becomes an hour and half car ride, if you are lucky. If there is a jam, it can take three hours or more. Recently it took a friend 7 hours to travel from South Delhi to Gurgaon in the morning, due to unprecedented jams.