THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Finding the right place to park is a persistent problem. As a solution to all parking issues, a digital parking system has been introduced in the Thampanoor railway station manned by Kudumbashree members.The parking facility in the railway station has a parking capacity for 2,000 bikes and 100 cars. As the system has been made fully digital, it has become easier for the public and those manning the parking lot at the railway station.
The vehicle number and the contact number of the owner is entered in the mobile application. This application has been developed by a startup, 'Pinpark', which provides 360-degree solutions to all parking-related problems.
“We've been using the app for a month. It is convenient for both, the public and the Kudumbashree workers as they don't have to wait for the bill. The bill is generated via SMS, the customer can also get the receipt of the bill if required,” said Abhilash, a Kudumbashree member.Pinpark's parking management suite is available as a SaaS(Software as a Service) application which can be leveraged on anyone who controls the parking lot.
This system also tracks vehicles arriving and leaving the parking lot thereby reducing the cost of paperwork in parking management. “We made this green application on a trial basis and in association with Kudumbashree. After seeing the success of the application, we plan to extend it to all other facilities manned by Kudumbashree,” said Amith Sasi, the co-founder of Pinpark.
Pinpark is also working towards seamless parking which won't require owners standing in queues to collect bills and no receipts as the car enters the parking area. Only a camera will be placed which will enable automatic number plate recognition. All parking spaces will have e-receipts.
Amith said, “As the next step, we are planning to deploy cameras in the parking space in railway station. There are chances of people using the facility and walking away without even paying the parking fees. This works like a closed loop where it will keep a check on the amount due on vehicle owners. We have refined the models so that everything is digitised.”Kudumbashree members work in shifts and keep track of the vehicles entering and leaving the railway station. At the end of this month, more options will be added to the application so that human intervention is not required.