[sustran] Fwd: Can India's cities escape their nasty parking spiral?

Paul Barter paulbarter at nus.edu.sg
Fri Apr 27 08:45:06 JST 2012


My latest post at Reinventing Parking may be worth discussing here. Below are short excerpts. 

The full piece with links and more detail is at http://www.reinventingparking.org/2012/04/can-indias-cities-escape-their-nasty.html

*** Can India's cities escape their nasty parking spiral? *** 

More and more Indian cities see parking as a crisis.

That could be a good thing! A crisis can open minds to alternatives that were unthinkable before.

A typical news item this week gives a taste. It is from Patna but could be in any Indian city.

'PATNA: The parking lots available in the city are not enough to accommodate even 5% of the vehicles registered with the district transport office (DTO). ...  commuters say they are forced to park vehicles on the roadside due to lack of sufficient parking space. Priyanka Kumari, a bank employee, argues, "Most of the time I park my vehicle on the roadside due to lack of parking lots. I have been fined twice, but what can I do? When the administration cannot provide parking space, what moral right does it have to impose fine on us?" ... The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) is working out plans to solve this problem. "We are thinking of constructing some multi-storied and underground parking lots in the city," said PMC commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal.' 

Indian cities have a nasty parking spiral of low prices, high demand and on-street chaos, no commercial supply and desperation for subsidized supply

The current approach is not working. Obviously something has to change. But what?
... 

How can India's cities escape this parking spiral?

Something has to change.  Low on-street prices and weak on-street enforcement are key sources of this nasty spiral. Doing better will require (at least) tackling these sources. 

There are signs that various activists and officials in Indian cities agree. Will action follow? 

Paul

Paul A. Barter
http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/Faculty_Paul_Barter.aspx
http://www.reinventingtransport.org | http://www.reinventingparking.org


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