Panaji has been a congested city for a while now and there have been efforts made to change that. Now the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has another idea up their sleeve “ charge for parking in certain areas of the city. While the general idea behind the move is commendable, the ground realities make it a very risky move that doesn’t seem to be thought out well enough.
The standing committee of the CCP, led by mayor Surendra Furtado, have decided to implement parking charges on a number of main roads with city limits. The charges are Rs 20 for the first two hours, a further Rs 20 for each hour up to 12 hours and Rs 100 per hour after that, for cars and jeeps. For two wheelers, it’s Rs 10 for the first two hours, Rs 5 for every subsequent hour and Rs 50 per hour beyond the 12 hour mark. Out of the six members of the committee, four were in favour of the proposal while two staged a walkout in opposition. Their reason was that this pricing would place a financial burden on the common man. They aren’t wrong.
A massive percentage of parked cars in Panaji are driven there by office-goers and owners of business establishments. Given that Panaji is a mixed use area, these commercial establishments are spread out across the city, apart from Patto, which has its own parking policy, incidentally far cheaper than the proposed CCP policy. Office goers work for a minimum of eight hours, which means that on average, they would be spending approximately Rs 160 per day to park a car and Rs 45 for a bike. That’s not a small expense.
The CCP wants to implement the parking policy to enforce traffic discipline and curb incidents of double and triple parking. This will certainly help there. Studies across the world show that there is a drop of 10 to 30 percent in parking demands when pay parking is implemented. In fact, in Shenzen, China, during peaking hours when there is a rise in parking charges, demand reduces by atleast 30 percent. But most of these places have a proper functional and affordable mass transit system. Goa doesn’t have a comprehensive transport system that is affordable and well-networked, not just Panaji. The fall out of this would be congestion in regions bordering these 18 roads where parking will be charged.
Shop owners and residents in Panaji have resorted to putting metal barriers in front of their establishments and using chains, in some cases, to block off empty spaces. This is done to stop people from parking; an illegal move but one that is understandable given the circumstances. There has to be a solution to this parking crisis. But perhaps going for 18 roads to be pay parking areas might be jumping the gun. A good parking policy is just not about charging for parking hoping that there is better discipline. It also requires a good mass transit system and, most importantly, the co-operation of the people. Panaji may fail in these two aspects. One thing is for sure, no one will be willing to pay Rs 45 or Rs 160 to park their vehicle while they are working in an office.
It might be more prudent to implement this policy in stages, learning from a slow start. This will also give people time to adapt.
