What’s Upcoming
In a parking policy finalized on Thursday, the UT Administration has recommended the following:
- Two Cars To Be Parked Inside
As per officials, in residential areas, people nowadays own more than two cars. Those who have made gardens at corners will have to make some place for parking. This is to avoid blocking the roads. Even razing the front boundary wall to make way for parking inside houses is suggested. At least two cars are to be parked inside.
- Dedicated Bus Service
It is recommended that a high frequency bus service to move on three major roads of the city. These are Madhya Marg from Panchkula to Chandigarh, belt from Zirakpur to Chandigarh Dakshin Marg and belt from Mohali to Chandigarh Himalaya Marg. This proposal is in order to reduce trips of personal vehicles.
- Two Gates In Small Houses
In small houses, provision of two gates is to be allowed.
The meeting was chaired by UT Adviser Manoj Parida. Also present were Principal Secretary (Home), Finance Secretary, Transport Secretary, Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, UT Chief Engineer, Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic) and various others.
After approval from the UT Administrator V P Singh Badnore on these recommendations, a draft notification will be issued.
Study Of Three Sectors
In order to finalise the parking policy, three sectors- Sectors 11, 35 and part of Industrial Area- were studied. These were selected under three categories- commercial, residential and industrial respectively.
The recommendations of the study are as follows:
- Sector 11
- The market may have a basement parking.
- Landscaping and green space on the surface (in front of shops). This will attract more people. A concept similar to that of a mall is being planned.
- Sector 35
Incidental parking solutions have been suggested. Both on-street and off-street parking, community parking have been recommended. This will ease out traffic jams in the internal lanes where vehicles are parked outside the house on roads.
- Industrial Area
- There is a possibility of multilevel parking. It was specified that this can occupy 3,500 vehicles.
- Even surface parking has been suggested at some pockets of Industrial Area. This space can hold 1,500 vehicles.
Serious Objections
Initially included in the policy were congestion pricing and mandatory parking certificate. These have been dropped as residents had serious objections regarding them.
Need Of The Hour
- Present Scenario
More than 86 per cent households own at least one car or two-wheeler. Public transport makes for 16 per cent of total motorized person trips. This is much lower than that recommended in the National Urban Transport Policy.
- August, 2018
The conclusions drawn from the report of Centre for Science and Research last year were as follows:
- Chandigarh was second worst among 14 cities in ‘per travel trip emissions’ due to high usage of personal vehicles.
- Share of car usage was close to 80 per cent in the city. While it was 70 per cent in Lucknow, 65 per cent in Ahmedabad and 60 per cent in Jaipur.
- 2008
A survey conducted by M/S Rites in 2008 presented the following:
- Daily total inter-city passenger traffic within Chandigarh Urban Complex was 4.93 lakh trips. This included cars, two-wheelers, auto rickshaws and buses.
- About 1.41 lakh of this compromised ‘through trips’ which is 28.7 per cent of the total traffic.
- As per experts, number of through-trips have spiked in the last 10 years.
- Causes are unavailability of quality public transport, record per capita personal vehicles and absence of any outer regional connection via rail or road.
Therefore, the parking policy focuses on implementation of practical solutions in Chandigarh. The aim is towards electric mobility, people’s participation, technology-based solutions, encouraging more non-motorised transport and e-rickshaws on the main blocked points. The Transport Department is already working on an IT-enabled car pooling system. Companies have been approached to bring in user-friendly software for this.
News Souce: The Indian Express
Image Source: Google Images
