Mumbai is still waiting for parking app

Representation Pic

The BMC mentioned a parking app yet again in its budget for the fifth year in a row this year, but the deadline for the app to go live is nowhere in sight. The BMC has been planning to streamline parking woes through the app. It was a part of the Parking Authority, which was first mentioned in the Development Plan 2034. The budget speech says that through this app, citizens will be able to book vehicle slots in advance. Also, they can pay online as per their convenience. To achieve the necessary infrastructure for this, the process of inviting tenders is in progress.

Last year, during the 2023-24 budget, the Commissioner said that all 32 public parking lots (PPL), off-street parking and 91 on-street parking places will be regulated resulting in better service for citizens. The BMC issued a press note on March 3, 2023, on the various benefits of digital parking management and P Velarasu, additional municipal commissioner, said that the project was in the pre-tendering stage. But, the BMC hasn't floated a tender in this regard in the past 10 months.

The BMC appointed a panel of All-India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to conduct the studies and form the first-of-its-kind parking authority for the city in 2019. They spent Rs 2.78 crore as charges between 2019 and 2020. The expert panel was reconstituted in January 2021. The TISS was working as the agency and was expected to complete their work with the help of city planners and geographic information system (GIS) designers within a year. The BMC spent an additional Rs 2 crore as charges for the year. Civic body officials are keeping mum on the issue.

Rs 2.78 cr
Amount spent as charges for expert panel formed by BMC