Parking is for Free

Parking is for Free

Delhi is one of the few cities in the world where parking in public spaces has been permitted almost for “free”. With a passage of time Delhi is a grown into a bustling metropolis, with a vast increase in its population and vehicles, giving rise to parking woes.

One of the reasons for free or highly subsidized parking that Delhi has been enjoying coming into the forefront is the alarming rise in air pollution levels, with vehicular emissions contributing over 70% to the air pollution in Delhi. The problem is so acute that its impact on health has reached a crisis like situation and is causing irreversible damage to the health of human beings and the city’s environment. With 1500 new vehicles entering the roads of Delhi each day, congestion of roads, vehicular pollution and parking have emerged as a major problems faced by the transport infrastructure planners of Delhi.

 Since official parking lots are highly subsidized, with charges ranging between Rupees 10 to 20 per day, the argument gaining ground is that existing policies actually allow a hidden subsidy to personal vehicles as the costs of health damage, pollution, urban space for parking and roads, and other social impacts, are not recovered through taxes and road pricing. Car owners do not pay adequately for the disproportionately high usage of road or public spaces for parking leading to the criticism that one sector of society is subsidized to occupy public land for a private use, without providing benefits to the larger public.  The charges should be closer to Rupees 200 per day, or Rupees 25 per hour, to reflect the true value of social space, as a  parked car occupies up to 150 sq. ft., as much as that of a small shop.

World over, governments are using tax and other policy measures to disincentivise the use of personal vehicles. These approaches work on the simple principle — make vehicles pay for the full costs of the ecological and social impact: slow down traffic growth to save energy, prevent pollution, and free cities from congestion.

Recognizing the need for a parking policy, Delhi Development Authority, (DDA) in 2005 established Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning & engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) with the aim “To evolve a parking policy and evolve parking solutions”. In consultation with various government bodies and non-governmental organisations many papers and solutions were put forward and implemented, however, the sheer scale of vehicular increases on the roads of Delhi have negated efforts made by various authorities.

The master plan of Delhi 2021 the ultimate document of the city’s planning, envisages a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) as subsidized parking options as well as a lack of safety for walkers, cyclists and women in the city has resulted in public transportation being relegated to second or even last choice of travel. This as a consequence has resulted in the ever increasing number of private vehicles plying in the city. The suggestion in various stages of implementation now, requires parking costs to be recovered from new properties, and provisions for consolidated parking locations i.e. parking spaces be leased or sold separately “unbundled” from the rent or sale price. It also suggests that fixed pricing of parking should be done away with, so as to make street parking exponentially expensive. This will encourage only short-term parkers to use the on-street locations for a shorter duration, thus enabling faster turnover of the limited number of available parking spaces.

Space requirements:

A typical vehicle stays parked 95 per cent of the time. This means it is driven for only about an hour a day. The land required to park a car is approx. 23 sq m, this is called Equivalent Car Space,(ECS). On the other hand, a very poor family (EWS) in Delhi gets a plot or apartment of 25 sq. meters, which in other words means, Delhi allots more public land per day for parking of cars than it does to house its poor.

Cost of Land: In Defence Colony, on a 325 sq. yards plot, the average size of a flat is 2000 sq. ft. or 185 sq. meters, commanding a  monthly rent of approximately Rupees 1,00,000 (one lakh) per month. If we use the rental of a flat as the basis of the calculation for rental for car parking space, the land rent for the area required for parking of a vehicle, i.e. Equivalent Car Space (ECS) of 23 sq. meters or 247.50 sq. ft. works out to Rupees 12,432 per month in Defence Colony. Thus each car being parked on the roads would be liable to pay not only Rupees 12432.00 as land rental, but also road usage and maintenance, the ecological and social impact and cost of diverting land from other uses to just idle parking. The cost of the other factors are un-calculated at this moment, however considering all the stated factors, if we throw up a random figure of Rupees 20,000 pm, would car owners pay this sum for each of their cars parked on roadsides? Would each household choose to own four cars instead to two cars?  Cars thus are getting a huge hidden subsidy in the form of cheap parking land, and it is this subsidy that allows people to buy more and more cars and park them on public spaces.

Demand for Parking: More parking provisions for private vehicles in residential areas, creates more parking demand, and encourages residents to acquire more cars. The provision for parking of personal vehicles cannot be considered as a matter of public good, as it utilises space which could be put to alternate use, simultaneously deterring people from using public transport.

Residential areas are facing a problem of what is commonly known as spill over parking. Spill over parking means vehicles park in non-designated parking areas, e.g. roads, kerbs, pedestrian tracts, green areas and so on. Such parking disrupts normal traffic flows, causes congestion within colony streets and makes access difficult for emergency vehicles. Taking note of this problem as being one that effects the environment both by adding air pollutants and degrading the environment, The National Green Tribunal in January 2015 ordered a “complete prohibition of parking of any cars on the metalled roads” of Delhi, imposing a fine of Rupees 1,000 for any violation, whilst also directing the Delhi Traffic Police, SHOs and concerned municipal bodies to ensure strict compliance. The NGT bench said: “There will be complete prohibition of parking of any cars on the metalled roads, and the corporation would take strict action against the persons who violate it. This shall include payment of Rupees 1,000 per car on account of compensation for degradation of environment and its restoration.”

Officials of the Municipal Corporation have clarified that by definition, all roads which have a solid layer of coal tar are metaled roads. The Corporations already have a rule banning parking on Delhi’s footpaths — vehicles are fined by their weight. “The latest order will be implemented as per rule on all roads that come under the jurisdiction of the corporation i.e. 60 feet wide and less,”

A time has come for changes in bye-laws in residential areas to free public carriageways from parked vehicles that impeding the smooth flow of traffic. As such a strong case emerges for individual users of personal vehicle to pay market rates for the use of public parking spaces for their vehicles.

Commercialization of residential areas: Another almost seemingly insurmountable problem is the emergence of commercial activity in purely residential enclaves. Under the mixed land use policy, commercial activity is permitted on 60 feet wide main roads, however such activity has invaded the innards of the colony as well, with doctors, lawyers & CA’s chambers, boutiques & showrooms, restaurants, banquet halls, inns & lodges, warehouses, religious facilities, low intensity industrial uses and  offices all operating in strictly residential areas. Defence Colony once a peaceful leafy colony, has been invaded with hordes of such enterprises much to the chagrin of residents, leading to congestion, increased people density, hogging up resident parking and overtaking green belts.

With such an invasion of non-residents the free parking spaces which were used harmoniously by residents has been mopped up by commercial enterprises, causing conflicts in land usage, thereby making it imminently suited for market rates of parking. If such a measure were to be introduced, it would deter commercial enterprises from establishing themselves in designated residential areas, and freeing parking space for either residents or other public causes.

Thus the writing on the wall is clear; days of free or subsidised parking is coming to an end. Sooner than later, the real cost of parking on public land will be imposed on vehicle owners, and strict compliance to parking guidelines would have to be adhered too. If the parking costs imposed are prohibitively high, it will deter residents from their endless quest of acquiring new cars, and prevent outsiders from establishing commercial enterprises in residential enclaves. Citizens need to be nudged to adopt practices that conserve energy, prevent degrading the environment, and freeing land for social usage of the community at large, to clean up our cities from this urban nightmare.

rajeevsuri.cbms@gmail.com