Car Parking in Indian Cities: A Review of the Impediments to Sustainable Mobility

Abstract

Irrespective of how little pollution is emitted by cars or their fuel efficiency, it is required to park cars somewhere. Poorly designed parking policies can induce vehicle ownership, urban sprawl, and less patronage for public transport. The goals it should fulfil hence come from the greater agenda of sustainable urban development that usually includes a strong and vibrant economy supported by a proficient transport system, clean urban environment, better accessibility, a safe environment, and a more equitable society. In India, a country with rising urbanization level and the concomitant induced derived demand for mobility, scanty research has been undertaken on the implications of parking policies. This study attempts to understand the current enabling policy and legal environment, institutional mechanism, existing parking strategies, and pricing and its impact on average generalized cost of trip in Indian cities and it also probes the possible policy implications for the future. This study relies on exploratory research methods based on secondary data available with various institutions and organizations and focused group discussions with different stakeholders. The study finds that India is depending on Generic Minimum-based parking approach that doesn’t consider transit proximity, popularity of a particular establishment, walkability, income and parking management practices like availability of public parking lots, parking pricing, and overall peak demand. There is an urgent need to provide efficient legal support for the creation of institutional mechanism, unbundling of parking pricing, adoption of smart growth parking policies.