Corporation to float tender for smart parking project by year end

In addition to existing parking lots of the civic body, additional locations will be added to deal with the city’s mammoth parking space problem, smartly. A senior Corporation official said, “The pan-city project will ensure that cars or bikes have more parking options. People can opt to check the availability of the slots using their smartphones and can also pay through the e-payment options. This will be done in phases, wherever parking management is required. This is to ensure that more people will use the parking slots and not park their vehicle on the wrong side of the road.” The cycle sharing project will make sure that 5,000 cycles are made available in 400 locations across the city. “The idea is that this facility will help better connectivity within the city, for people using the public transport. For example, a person can take a cycle and unlock it using a code sent to his mobile and the cycle will be tracked, until it is returned after the end of the time limit. Last mile connectivity will be greatly enhanced by this,” said the official, adding, that the idea emerged from the experiments of various organisations, with a large number of people opting to use a bicycle, instead of using their vehicles.

The official added that both the projects will be tendered by mid-December. Explaining the scenario, the official said, “The vendor will have to bring the capital. Currently, for parking, the Corporation charges Rs 20 (Rs 40 for premium) per hour. Although the projects will be owned by the Corporation, the vendors will be in charge of managing it. For the parking management and cycle sharing projects, the vendor who charges the lowest rate per hour, will be given permission to implement it. in the parking management system, the permission for towing of vehicles on the wrong side of the road will be given by the Traffic Police.