Extends deadline for bid to integrate mobile app development and maintenance with upkeep of parking lot properties
The BMC parking lot a Kala Ghoda in South Mumbai. FILE PIC/ASHISH RAJE
Apart from making it easy to locate and book parking spaces in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) smart parking application is aimed at streamlining maintenance of public parking lots and on-street parking lots, by clubbing app development and app maintenance with maintenance of the property itself. Currently, around 500 parking lots across the city have been linked to the tender floated for creation of the new app.
All under one roof
The contractor will be responsible for developing the app, maintaining financial books of receipts from all parking lots, and maintaining the parking lots as well. If all goes according to plan, with time, all parking lots across the city will be brought under the maintenance of one agency. The date for submitting bids has been extended by 15 days on Friday (October 30), to November 14. At present, the on-street and public parking lots are contracted to different agencies by the civic body for operation and maintenance. The civic body receives a fixed amount as fees.
What app will bring
Motorists will be able to locate parking lots across the city, pre-book parking spaces, and also pay for parking through the app. Every public parking lot is expected to display the number of vacant parking slots on its premises at the entry point. The app will instead track available parking slots in real time. “The decision to integrate app development and app maintenance with the maintenance of the property was taken to streamline financial arrangements. As motorists can pay through the application, it will be easier for the same contractor to maintain the parking lots as well as the mobile application. The BMC will receive a share of the revenue generated from the operations, instead of a fixed amount,’ said a senior civic official. This will also facilitate more transparency for BMC. “At present, motorists pay on the spot, and we are not entirely aware of what is happening at the location,” the official added.
Integration of spaces
The BMC has also planned to integrate private parking spaces, such as in malls, with the mobile application to increase the number of available parking lots in Mumbai. In 2019-20, the then Mumbai Parking Authority — the apex body formed as part of BMC to streamline parking management in the city — had planned to tie up with housing societies, malls, bus depots and other commercial spaces to make their vacant parking spaces available to the public. However, the idea did not sustain.
Public parking lot status
There are 58 public parking lots across the city. mid-day’s status check of a few of these in July had revealed several issues, including:
>> A lack of proper signage, boards at entrances to indicate presence of parking
>> Poor accessibility as most entrances are tucked away on interior roads, far from the arterial roads frequented by tourists, shoppers, and office-goers
>> Inadequate lighting, which discourages families and women from using the parking lots
>> Unfriendly pedestrian infrastructure in the surrounding areas
These parking lots have an occupancy rate of just 40 per cent to 60 per cent, amid large-scale illegal on-street parking across the city.
Key features of the app
>> Tracking of available parking spaces, location of parking lots
>> Booking of parking space online
>> Payment of parking fee online
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