KOCHI: Eight years ago, the first automated car-parking facility sprung up in Kochi, with a capacity to hold 25 cars. Though no similar initiatives were taken up for the next couple of years, the scenario is changing. Making inroads into the city's infrastructure scene are robotic car parking facilities, which could drive the future of Kochi, a city struggling with parking issues. The latest, a 3000-capacity automated system will be introduced at SmartCity Kochi campus in the coming months.
"We have started the foundation work for the underground automatic car parking facility which can hold 3,000 cars. It will be a four-storey vertical parking space with a height of 8.5 meters," said K T Jose, managing director, He-Man Auto Robo Park, based in Angamaly. Their recent project was a robotic car parking facility at Lisie Hospital in Kochi.
"The hospital was facing a huge space crunch making it difficult for patients arriving in cars to park their vehicles. There is a small slot for parking outside the hospital which could contain less than 12 cars. The automatic parking facility has the capacity for 81 cars, which requires only 2,930 square feet compared to the 20,000 square feet land which would have been required," said Fr Jerry Njaliyath, assistant director, Lisie Hospital.
According to Vijin, the system is highly advanced, unlike the existing models. The customer will receive a smart RF chip card which will be given to him once he parks the car in the building which houses the facility. After he leaves the building, he needs to swipe the card to indicate he has left the building. Then the system will itself decipher which slot is available to park the car. "This is where we are different. In the previous models, an operator is required to specify which slot is empty and where the cars can be parked. This is quite time-consuming. Through robotic powered systems, one does not need to give any command or direction," said K T Jose.
According to Francis Xavier, director, Kunnel Engineers and Construction Private Limited, the first establishment which implemented the automated car parking facility in Kochi, the system is extremely useful in cities which have huge parking constraints. "We are located at MG Road opposite Maharaja's College ground, which is one of the busiest streets with very restricted parking facility. We only had two-and-a-half cents of land for parking which had a capacity to park seven cars in total.
Purchasing extra land for parking was not an option which is why we opted to try out the automatic puzzle parking model by Kinetic Hyundai K-Park Mechanized Car Parking Systems. It continues to be a huge success. Many stakeholders approached us to emulate the model, but we did not see anyone adopting the system. Even the Corporation officials approached us so that they could adopt the facility here," he said.
Benefits of the facility
It can be easily shifted to another location. With the rising cost of concrete, it is a viable option for big establishments who have to construct ramp parking made of concrete anyway. For example, constructing a single car slot in concrete will require at least Rs 5 to 6 lakh, unlike automatic parking facility made of steel which requires Rs 3 and a half lakh for each slot. No extra space is required for ramps.