Policy Tweaks That Can Help Overcome Parking Perils
Even if you managed to reach from one destination to another without getting stuck in a traffic jam and feeling lucky, the joy might be short-lived. The time spent in finding a place to park your precious automobile would act as the killjoy. On a personal level, parking issues could be a cause of a headache. But, on a bigger scale, parking issues have assumed the significance of epic proportions. While the search to find solutions continues, let us look for some small policy tweaks that might be effective in dealing with the issue.
In the driver's seat
If you a have the money, all you need to do is, reach a dealer, quickly buy a car and drive home. In fact, it is alright even if you do not have funds. You could get the purchase fully financed. Strange as it is, no one is going to question you whether you have a parking space to keep the car. Truth be told, automobile investments are often not made taking into account parking issues. This is evident from the fact that narrow lanes of all big cities of India are invariably packed with clumsily parked big and small automobiles. In these narrow lanes, people maneuver and make space for another car if a new member of the family decided to ditch public transport and drive his own wheels.
What is the solution?
Extreme as it may sound, the only way to discourage people from buying cars without having a parking space is to restrict them to do so. Authorities must initiate measure and should not register automobiles till the owner can prove he has a parking space to keep the vehicle.
Make room
Many of us do have our own parking slots. We live in housing societies that provide us that space. However, neighbours do get into heated arguments over parking in apartment societies, too. In modern Indian households, many members of a family have their own cars, while the housing society in which they live provides space for only one vehicle.
The truth is that there are always more cars than a given parking space can accommodate. The problem, it seems, cannot be solved in entirety simply by discouraging people from car ownership and increasing awareness about the many issues associated with the concept. While sensitizing people about the issue, plans must also be mad—and implemented—to ensure there is enough to room to park.
What is the solution?
Unless developers' building plans have suitable provisions for parking factoring in the future increase in numbers, authorities should not give their go ahead.