Delhi's parking plans will further subsidise private cars -- and increase congestion
The current understanding of multilevel parking is quite poor. Typically, the cost of structured parking accounts for construction, operation and maintenance, and transaction costs. Land is leased from civic bodies, so its true cost is discounted. The more automated the parking system, the greater its cost. Detailed costing of parking structures being planned for Delhi are not available. But the civic bodies that have planned them do not expect these to be profitable at the current parking fees, or even with the minimum hike planned.
ndmc has provided some costs for its planned structured parking. The capital cost of multilevel parking is Rs 4 lakh per
car parking space.
mcd estimates show this can increase to Rs 9 lakh each.The business model they propose provides
for diverting 25-30 per cent of the space for commercial activities to keep the venture profitable--because in this model, only 22 per cent of the
capital cost can be recovered from parking charges of Rs 10 per hour. If the full capital cost were to be recovered through parking, hourly parking
rate would go up to Rs 30-39. The existing rate is Rs 10 per 12 hours.
Will park, won't pay
All feasibility studies conducted for the proposed multilevel parking show very low willingness to pay among car users in Delhi, which has the highest
per capita income in the country. A survey at
mcd's parking site at Parade Ground in Old Delhi showed that 50 per cent
of the car users interviewed were willing to pay only Rs 10 for using a multilevel parking. Only 30 per cent were ready to pay Rs 15 for unlimited
time. When respondents were asked about paying on an hourly basis, only 28 per cent was willing to pay equal to or more than Rs 10. Ninety-three
per cent of the car users want to use the proposed fully automated multilevel parking lot at Ramlila Ground. When asked about fees, 61 per cent
were willing to pay only Rs 5; about 26 per cent were willing to pay Rs 10; 3 per cent went up to Rs 15; and only 10 per cent were ready to pay Rs 20.
The experience of multilevel parking lots in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata actually shows how the business model is struggling. Delhi's commercial centre
Nehru Place has a seven-storey parking complex owned by a private operator. Only two floors, with a combined daily capacity of 228 cars, are
functioning. When
Down To Earth visited the lot, only nine vehicles were parked there.
The main reason, perhaps, is the cost, which was earlier Rs 30 for one hour, increasing through the slabs to Rs 120 for eight hours. This was
subsequently reduced to Rs 20 for one hour, increasing to Rs 100 for six to 10 hours. Even though surface parking in the vicinity was curtailed, the
multilevel parking remains grossly underutilised, not making any impact on congestion in the area.
At the same time, parking attendants of the surface parking lots of Nehru Place are remarkably efficient at utilising limited space. In a space that
would take 3,785 cars, they accommodate a peak of 5,861 cars.
Mumbai has a multilevel lot at Nariman Point. The Mumbai Environmental Social Network, a civil society group, studied its impact. It found that
before the lot came up, there was 100 per cent utilisation of the available 140 parking slots. After the lot came up on the same plot, the capacity
increased to 540 cars but utilisation dropped to only 10 per cent. Reason cheaper on-street parking in the vicinity, which charges Rs 5 per hour and
Rs 3 for every additional hour, while the multilevel parking charges Rs 5 for every 30 minutes.
Kolkata has perhaps the highest surface parking rate of Rs 7 per hour, and the parking attendants are known to charge higher than the standard
rate after the first hour, making haggling with parking attendants a part of the car user's routine. The city has one multilevel parking at Rawdon
Street (another is just coming up at Lindsay Street). It has three floors that can park 200 cars, and charges Rs 15 per hour but a concessional Rs
75 for eight hours. Simpark Infrastructure, the parking operator, says about 110 slots are always occupied, mostly by office-going users who pay
monthly. It also says that on an average, there are about 160-180 cars using the lot on an hourly basis. While these are just the claims of the
operator needing independent verification, it seems plausible that the greater occupancy in the multilevel parking lot has to do with relatively high
rates of surface parking in the city--especially when seen against the large difference between surface parking rates and multilevel parking rates in
Delhi and Mumbai.
Any parking policy for Indian cities must study these examples in detail. It must also recognise something that is obvious from a review of parking
literature from across the world that parking demand is infinite, and no amount of supply can meet it.
Restrict cars, not mobility
Missing this critical insight, the parking debate in India is all about how to meet an increasing demand. It completely ignores the worldwide trend of
using high parking fees to deter the use of cars in cities, thereby relieving city roads of congestion and lowering air pollution from vehicular
emissions. Mobility needs are then met by improving public transport. Cities across the world are finding increasingly new ways to price out parking
of cars (see box
Clamping wheels).
Multilevel parking in Delhi and other cities must be debated thoroughly. Does it make sense to promote cheap parking, cross-subsidised by rent from
commercial development, in a city which has too many cars? Wouldn't Delhi be better off if the Rs 1,460 crore which is proposed to be spent on
multilevel parking was invested in improving public transport? Wouldn't cash-strapped civic bodies across the country have more money for public
amenities if they recovered parking charges based on differential rates determined by commercial importance of a site? Parking rates also need to be
varied during the day in accordance with peak demand, because experience from across the world shows this influences commuter choice. Indian
cities will have to choose between cars and mobility.
