KOCHI: AT long last, the illegal parking of container trucks and lorries along the Container Terminal Road which posed a major threat to the life and safety of commuters, will indeed be tackled through a novel initiative from the district administration. It will launch ‘Kochi Gear’, a mobile application, which will enable container drivers to book a parking space in the parking lots at BPCL, Arpitha, and Willingdon Island. The app has been developed by startup Genie code under the Kerala Startup Mission.
With the help of the app, the drivers can easily view on a single screen the list of parking yards, including the number of available spaces, distance to each parking yard from their current location and the approximate time needed to reach the facility. According to the promoters of the project, the major reason for the growing number of cases pertaining to illegal parking of containers on the Terminal Road is the lack of information on such facilities and apprehensions re garding the parking fee.
“With the launch of the app, we will be able to resolve the issue to a certain extent,” said District Collector K Mohammed Y Safeerulla. Through the app, the container/lorry driver will be able to know the amount he will have to shell out as parking fee. “Availability of the parking slots is displayed in attractive colours to make it easy and userfriendly. The green colour indicates plenty of slots while the orange colour shows very few slots are available and red colour reveals the particular parking yard is full. By a single touch, the drivers can enable the route map to the parking lot.
Users can book the space in advance,” according to the Kochi Gear project report. The app also offers some key benefits to the owners of the parking spaces. “The vehicle entry will be possible through a simple QR code scanning. There is no need to calculate the amount manually. The app will display the parked time and the amount according to the vehicle type. Using the app, they can view the parked containers with details, including the vehicle type, name of the driver and registration number. They can also view booked vehicle details.
The parking history will also be available to store data,” said the report. The police or the officers concerned can view the details using a single touch feature without being logged in and will even be able to guide drivers easily if needed. The district authorities said the app is the result of the district administration’s efforts to reduce the number of accidents occurring on the Container Terminal Road due to illegal parking.