In India, it’s common to see vehicles lining the streets of open spaces. The only way to solve India’s parking crisis is to stop people from privatizing public spaces to make room for their cars.
In big cities, isolated streets are usually reserved for children to play or for peaceful evening strolls. These streets have now assumed the form of undesignated parking lots. The worst part is that India seems to have accepted it as inevitable.
How do people privatize public spaces?
When people privatize a public space, they re-purpose public areas for personal use. The free parking of private vehicles in public spaces has been common in most major cities in India.
In addition, the small rikshaws and innumerable two-wheelers that make up the majority of India’s vehicles are easy to cram into small public spaces. Vehicles line the streets haphazardly, leading to congested roads and obstructed pedestrian movement.
Furthermore, since parking has historically been unpaid in India, people appropriate residential areas for private parking without a dent in their conscience.
The root of the problem
People who park in public spaces offer the defense that they pay taxes, not just for their vehicles but also for the roads and the fuel.
This is obviously not economically feasible for the city. Vehicles are privately-owned goods that take up real estate, which is not a free resource.
Furthermore, roads are public property. Free parking equates to the government using public money to subsidize storage for private vehicles.
Bringing in more paid parking regimes that charge fair prices from vehicle owners seems to be the only solution.
How can we prevent people from privatizing public spaces?
Proper planning
Planned mobility back with technology seems to be the best solution. Smart parking technologies provide real-time status of parking spots to citizens. Touch-less electronic payments can make the entire process fairer and smoother.
Smart parking can help cities set up parking fees with custom tariff rates based on timing, demand and location. When planned using advanced tech solutions, cities should be able to encourage drivers to seek legal parking spaces.
Also Read: How to design a perfectly lit parking lot
New policies
To go hand in hand with proper planning, the government also needs amp up its parking reinforcement policies.
One significant policy change can be on car ownership. Limiting the number of cars a person can own is a start. Making sure that a person purchasing a new car has proof of a private parking space is another solution. This is quite a radical step, but nonetheless necessary to limit parking privatization.
Efficient public transportation
Controlling the citizens’ vehicle purchasing power is not enough. Cities need to ensure that their public transportation is smooth, cheap, and efficient. This will encourage people to choose public transport over private vehicles.
Better infrastructure
In addition to change in policies, parking infrastructure needs to match the new smart parking solutions. Automated multi-level parking spaces and parking meters are a great investment to increase a city’s parking capacity.
In conclusion
Roads in Indian cities function at half their capacity because of unorganized parking! These solutions may be India’s only hope to solve its parking crisis.
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