Shell out more for parking from today in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Motorists and two-wheeler riders will have to cough up more for parking their vehicles in the city from today as the KMC implements its plan for a graded fee structure.
The new fee structure, which would see a steep hike from the rates so far, had been incorporated in the app-based, cashless parking system, said a KMC car parking department official, adding all private agencies running the city's parking lots had been apprised of the change.
Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday said the civic body was taking every effort to implement the app-based parking system to weed out fleecing by unscrupulous attendants. "We are committed to bringing in transparency in the parking system. So, we are implementing an app-based, cashless transaction at parking lots across the city. We have asked all parking agencies to take payments through the app-based, cashless system. We will wait for some time and take action against the parking agencies, who won't implement the new system," said Hakim.
So far, the parking fee for two-wheelers has been a uniform Rs 5 per hour with no provision of hike by the hours. For cars, it has been Rs 10 per hour. Going by the proposal placed and approved at the KMC House, the initial parking rate for the first two hours has been raised two-times, from Rs 5 per hour to Rs 10 per hour for two-wheelers and Rs 10 an hour to Rs 20 an hour for four-wheelers. Thereafter, from the third to the fifth hour, the rate will jump by four-times to Rs 20 per hour for two-wheelers and Rs 40 per hour for cars. Beyond five hours, the fee will go up by 10-times to Rs 50 an hour for two-wheelers and Rs 100 per hour for cars.
The KMC car parking department organized a workshop at Uttam Mancha on Friday to train parking attendants in how to operate the app-based parking system. According to a civic official, more than 500 attendants from across the city participated in the workshop and took lessons on how to operate the POS machines. But a civic car parking department official pointed out that there were still some attendants who were not yet prepared to offer the app-based payment option from Saturday. "Those attendants may continue to demand cash from motorists for a while. We have asked the agencies to make the best use of trained attendants and implement the app-based system at the earliest," said the official.