The Chennai Corporation is planning to install parking meters on at least 50 of the 83 roads that it had identified for regulating parking.
The roads, across its 10 zones, include a three-km-stretch of the service road at the Marina Beach, Link Road near Anna Salai and Langs Garden Road in Pudupet.
The decision on permitting parking on both sides of a road would be taken based on the width of the road and traffic flow during rush hour.
As of now, parking meters have been installed on North Mada Street, Mylapore; Pondy Bazaar in T.Nagar, and CSIR Road in Taramani.
A car user can drop a 5-rupee coin into the meter and obtain a permit on which the entry time and vehicle number will be printed.
The parking attendant will verify the permit which has to be displayed on the dashboard.
The existing meters in locations such as Pondy Bazaar are yet to realise their optimum potential because of the encroachment by hawkers.
Many of the vehicles are parked on the road beyond the yellow line that demarcates the parking area as a portion of the parking area has been encroached by hawkers.
B.Veerappan, supervisor of the parking facility in Pondy Bazaar, said that over 700 cars are parked every day on the stretch where eight parking meters have been installed. “There is lack of awareness among car users on how to operate the parking meter. We are not able to regulate motorcycles that are being parked in the area meant for cars. Parking meter attenders are being assaulted when they try to regulate vehicles,” he said.
M. Sekar, an ex-serviceman manning the parking facility, said that only 10 per cent of the people are able to use the parking meter on their own. The rest require help from attenders.
M. Seetharaman, a driver who parked his vehicle on Tuesday at the parking area, said that the installation of the parking meter had made parking easier and stressed the need for such facilities in more areas.
