Kolkata police to revamp parking app 4 years after launch

KOLKATA: Four years after a parking app, launched by the police, failed to gain popularity due to certain on-ground technical issues, the top cop of Kolkata Police has promised an attempt to revamp the app or launch a completely new one that will allow citizens to know the exact parking situation before driving to a spot. Several ideas were being worked out to tackle congestion outside major schools in the city, he added while speaking at the launch of the annual traffic review bulletin at Lalbazar on Wednesday.
Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal said, “You can look for your parking slot even when you are leaving home. A detailed project in this regard is at an advanced planning stage. This will help us cut down illegal parking and unnecessary congestion when the motorists search for a spot to park their vehicles,” he said. Sources said that a meeting with KMC would be held in this regard soon.
In 2018, ‘SmartParking Kolkata’ was made available on Play Store both as an independent app and an add-on to the ‘Bondhu - Kolkata Police Citizen’ app that has had 50,000 downloads since its launch. Each time one clicked ‘parking’ on the app, you got two options on the phone screen — ‘Search for parking area’ and ‘Click to start parking’. The second option asked the user to register after providing the mobile number, car’s registration number and email ID. The user could also use the app without registering. However, real time feedback became an issue while filled-up slots were shown empty, leading to its gradual disuse.
The top cop, who has already held multiple meetings and spoken to his men about possible solutions, stated that they are also looking at multiple congestions to weed out congestion around schools. The top brass has indicated that all stakeholders — the school students, their parents, pool car owners and drivers and school authorities — will have important roles in these plans.