In simpler times, car owners in cities only had to think about their fuel, oil and tyres before setting out. But the present day car owner also has to make mental route maps to avoid traffic, and consider time of day, festival seasons and general rush to ascertain whether their investment on wheels will have a safe parking space when they reach their destination.
With already teeming streets being clogged by haphazardly parked vehicles, many commercial establishments have taken it upon themselves to ensure that vehicles visiting their premises get a space. The solution, like most things these days, is to go high tech and vertical. Enter multi-level car parking.
While some spaces in the city have already implemented solutions where car owners can drive up and access parking spaces on various floors, nowadays automated systems that can pick up and deposit the vehicles on different tiers have started coming up.
“The advantage of multi-level parking is obviously the amount of space saved, and it even reduces pollution since people aren’t needlessly running their engines in an enclosed space trying to get into a spot,” says Rajesh Shimpi, Deputy Manager, Kinetic Hyundai Elevators and Movement Technologies Ltd., which installed a 27 vehicle automated parking structure at Puthuran Plaza on MG Road.
K.T. Jose, MD of Angamaly-based He-Man Engineers, which has developed a ‘Robopark’ system that he claims can accommodate 120 cars in a space of 10 cents, says that despite the need for parking facilities in Kerala, most establishments are reluctant to get them installed.
“The issue most people see is the high initial investment for such facilities, but what they don’t realise is that once installed, these systems require virtually no maintenance.” Their solution costs around Rs. 6 lakh per parking slot and requires close to seven months to build, for a 10 cent space. “Right now, there is a lot of interest for such facilities in Bangalore and Delhi and even international destinations such as Abu Dhabi. Since local interest in Kerala is still low, we are focussing our attention outside the State till it becomes a necessity here,” adds Jose.
“While we have received many enquiries, we have only installed one automated system in Kerala and that is the one at MG Road. Bangalore is the most popular destination for automated car parks in the South, while Mumbai has the most on a nationwide scale,” says Rajesh.
Automated or otherwise, the need to park more vehicles in limited space has caused more establishments to look into the matter seriously, with Lulu Mall being the latest on the bandwagon, as their five-level parking space, which can accommodate 800 cars and 600 two-wheelers nears completion. “We considered the idea very early on, despite having two levels of basement parking which can hold over 2,000 cars, because the rush was still too much to accommodate and we did not want to lose potential customers,” says Shibu Philips, Business Head, Lulu Mall. There is no automated system in their implementation, though Shibu says they did consider the option. “While automated systems are convenient, the frequent power outages we face in Kerala may require us to run these systems on generators for a prolonged period, which is not cost effective. So we decided against it.”
Whether the vehicles are whisked away on their own or driven up by owners, so long as they are stacked and kept off the roads, the authorities can heave a sigh of relief. “It’s obvious that most of the vehicles plying our streets today are on the way to visit various commercial establishments, so having adequate facilities in these spaces is welcome,” says Asst. Commissioner (Traffic) Baby Vinod.
“There are pay and park facilities available in the city but not enough to accommodate the volume of vehicles. But there is also a cultural issue where people do not mind buying expensive vehicles but shy away from paying to park them. However, the situation is changing and within a few years we should see a cultural change, with more people observing traffic and parking laws, so having the facilities in place for safe parking is good,” he adds.
The narrow roads and rising number of vehicles are a logistical challenge, but the solution is already at hand. With more willing organisations and a cultural change or two, the days of leaving the house with peace of mind may be returned to us yet.
