BBMP set to introduce smart parking, but pioneer has his doubts

The BBMP is getting ready to award the contract for ticketless “smart parking” even as the “smartness” of the process has been questioned by an entrepreneur who brought India’s first automated parking to Brigade Road.

On May 5, the BBMP invited tenders for parking management on 85 roads, including MG Road and Brigade Road, on ‘Pay and Display’ basis, which allows for simple automated parking system as operated on Brigade Road. Three days later, the civic body changed the terms and switched to ‘Pay by Space’ and preferred the smart parking system.

The automated parking system (Pay and Display), as adopted on Brigade Road, allows a user to park his/her car for up to two hours. The parked car displays the parking fee receipt on the car’s deck, which is visible from its windscreen. The traffic police inspect the cars and those parked beyond the permitted time will be towed away.

But the BBMP believes the automated system is vulnerable to corruption and has chosen to go with ‘Pay by Space’. “You can bribe those monitoring the parking and park your car for the time exceeding the maximum two hours without paying for it.

The smart parking will bring transparency in the system by giving the real-time status of each car,” BBMP Chief Engineer (Road Infrastructure) B S Prahallad told DH.

Explaining the smart parking, he said the system would allow the user to pay by cash, card or online.

“A user will pay for parking and send a message to a number following which s/he will get an e-receipt by SMS. We are doing away with the ticketing system,” he said.

Failed system

However, Suhail Yusuf, the secretary of Brigade Shops and Establishments Association, who brought the automated parking system in 2004, accused the BBMP of pushing under the carpet the flaws in the new parking system.

Claiming that the ticketless system was flawed, he showed a video recording of a bidder’s demonstration to stress that parking will be a time-consuming process if the BBMP chooses to go with the system. The video shows an assistant filling details on a touch-screen monitor, after which he struggles to insert a Rs 10 note.

“The American technology was used in a town in Illinois and has failed miserably. The BBMP is favouring the two bidders. That’s why officials are hiding the flaws,” Yusuf said.

Prahallad, however, argued that the new system was robust and ensured transparency.

“Sensors alert the control room after the expiry of
time allotted to a user following which s/he will be fined or the car towed away,” he said, adding that no car can be parked for more than three hours.

DH News Service