CHENNAI: The new parking policy rolled out by Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) for the Chennai Metropolitan Area on Tuesday calls for employers with over 100 employees to come up with a solid travel demand management plan or in other words, to “stop letting everyone drive their own cars to work”.
This is done to encourage shared rides, public transport and even walking or cycling. This means employers will have to keep track of where you live, how you get to work, what vehicle you use and even when you travel. These data are meant to help employers provide better shuttle services to metro stations, suburban trains and bus stops.
A parking management unit will be set up under CUMTA (as a special purpose vehicle or a division) to prepare parking management and implementation plans, recommend parking pricing and enforcement of parking strategies; and give regular recommendations for improvement. It is to be headed by a dedicated officer reporting to CUMTA. The new policy, released after getting the state government’s green light, suggests the introduction of a ‘proof of parking’ that validates the availability of at least one off-street parking space, for future registration of vehicles as a long-term measure.
Area level parking management plans are to be created, as part of the new policy, which takes into account entire neighbourhoods for assessing demand and designating parking spaces. Earlier, sources said, parking management was done at the street-level, which often resulted in unregulated spillover to adjoining streets.
With nearly 9.2 million vehicles jostling for space, on-street parking has turned into a free-for-all. CUMTA wants to change that by treating parking as an urban mobility measure, says CUMTA special officer I Jayakumar.
He said three types of street parking spots will be determined in every area level parking management. These include high-demand block face, medium-demand block face and low-demand block face. Based on this category, the city will determine four prices -- high, medium, low and free. A street can have a mix of all the four price ranges. For example, a 2-km-long street can have high and low prices based on the demand.
The parking fees will be based on factors like vehicle size, parking duration and parking demand. The urban local bodies will fix the parking fee based on the recommendations as per the area-level parking management plan. Similarly, on-street parking prices will be set so that 15% of spaces are vacant at any given time, he said.
In neighbourhoods, especially those with limited parking spaces, the local bodies will create permit zones for parking. If a resident lives in a designated zone, they may apply for a ‘residential parking permit’, a special pass that allows residents staying in the area to be able to park their cars on the streets near their homes.
The available permits are a fixed number, based on demand assessment, and might be renewed at three or six-month intervals. These parking permits are proof that a resident lives in one of the designated zones, giving them a chance to park near their homes, especially in crowded areas.
As per the new parking policy, on-street parking will be charged higher than off-street parking which will encourage long-term parking at off-street locations. The parking services will be changed from the current post-paid model to a pre-paid one to encourage users to plan their parking activity in advance and avoid long duration parking on streets. Public off-street parking and surrounding on-street parking (up to 500 metres) will be integrated and managed by a single entity.
Schools have been ordered to stagger their class timings to ease the morning and afternoon traffic outside school gates. Schools must also plan dedicated areas for pickups, drop-offs, and bus parking, according to the new policy.