Hours-long haphazard parking on streets chokes Kochi, finds new study

Kochi: The haphazard parking of private vehicles on streets along major corridors in Kochi for long hours is choking Kerala metro city, according to the draft comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) of Kochi. This, the study points out, stresses the need for stricter regulations including proof of parking to get the vehicle registered.

The CMP released by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), notes the situation warrants stricter rules, including residents procuring a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the authority concerned without which they cannot register their vehicle with the RTO.

As per the CMP, cars and two-wheelers constitute the highest composition of vehicles parked on streets, with a share of over 71 per cent. The parking assessment carried out at major locations in the study area recorded the highest on-street parking accumulation on Banerji Road, Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road, near Jose Junction and Shanmugham Road.

The highest off-street parking (in demarcated parking spaces) accumulation was observed at Ernakulam Railway Station and Vyttila Mobility Hub. The Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road has a parking accumulation (equivalent car space- ECS or the minimum amount of space required to park a four-wheeler vehicle) of 902 followed by Banerji Road (728).

The highest share of two-wheelers in the on-street parking (39 per cent) shows that motorbikes and scooters are the most preferred mode of travel in Kochi, while those preferring bus is just 22 per cent. The share of four-wheelers is 12 per cent, while autorickshaws have 7 per cent share.

The low share of bus-based public transport indicates a clear dominance of private mode over public buses in Kochi, the report noted. However, this is hardly surprising given that the average waiting time for a bus six minutes and the longest is 35 minutes, the survey revealed.

The CMP has mooted a dynamic pricing strategy and restricted parking zones (RPZ) to regulate parking in the city. An occupancy-based pricing, based on a target average on-street occupancy at the locations known to saturate easily, has been proposed for:
» Marine Drive/ Broadway on-street parking facility
» High Court area
» Infopark Area core area
» Edapally Junction
» Aluva core area

The Time-of-the-Day pricing on stretches, where the demand rises and then reduces over the peak and off-peak hours of the day has been proposed for:
» Parking underneath Aluva, Maradu flyovers
» Parking near Edapally flyover
» Kaloor (near JLN Stadium)
» Infopark area

Restricted parking zones to ease parking congestion have been pitched based on which parking permits are provided for residents, businesses, and visitors with Resident Parking Zone (RPZ) where on-street parking is controlled.