KOCHI: Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar on Tuesday launched a dedicated smart parking app, ‘ParKochi’, which is expected to help address the acute parking crisis in the rapidly growing city.
Developed by the Cochin Smart Mission Ltd (CSML), ‘ParKochi’ will enable a registered user find available parking spaces based on their current location and real-time data. The app lets motorists book vacant slots in advance. ‘ParKochi’ covers around 30 parking locations managed by entities like GCDA, Kochi corporation, and KMRL, offering roughly 2,000 parking slots.
Besides, a major initiative is under way to transform how vehicles are parked and managed across the city. The transport minister directed the Kochi corporation to mark every single parking slot with defined boxes. “If vehicles are parked beyond the box, fines should be levied for wrong parking.
These measures are needed to bring in parking discipline,” Ganesh Kumar said, signalling a strict move against the casual, space-wasting habit of “leaving vehicles lazily”. The initiative aims to use every inch of available public parking space efficiently.
Cochin Smart Mission CEO Shaji V Nair highlighted the importance of the Rs 4.81-crore digitalisation measure, which includes the installation of 160 AI cameras and boom barriers across the parking lots.
“A key feature is the provision for vehicle owners to pre-book parking space, allowing them to navigate the city without the usual stress of finding a spot,” he said.
Mayor M Anilkumar noted that the app will eventually integrate all entities, both public and private, with parking facilities in the future, while ensuring seamless monitoring from the CSML control centre.
Meanwhile, the motor vehicle department (MVD) is mulling a change to the rules for the parking of seized vehicles. The proposal is to park seized vehicles at corporation or private parking lots, with the owner footing the parking fee along with the offence fine.
“A notification in this regard will be issued soon,” the transport minister said.
‘KMTA becomes functional’
The Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) has started functioning officially, the transport minister said.
“We have submitted the proposal to appoint staff to the finance department. While awaiting staff appointments, the CEO can immediately deploy personnel from the SWTD on deputation to ensure the Authority’s smooth functioning,” Ganesh said. Meanwhile, the MVD is revising its driving test protocol. The familiar ‘H’ test track is being replaced with a new design to specifically test a candidate’s ability in side parking, reverse parking, and zigzag manoeuvres.