How Smart Parking in India Can Enhance the Quality of Urban Life2 min read
It is no secret that the quality of urban life in India compares unfavorably with those of other cities across the globe. Higher emissions, decreased productivity due to time spent on the road, extreme traffic congestion leading to increased stress levels, and poor urban infrastructure are some of the problems we Indians face when benchmarked against our global peers.
Problems of Indian Metros Compared to Global Cities
Research commissioned by the ridesharing and mobility app aggregator, Uber, reveals that India is losing over 22 billion USD every year due to inefficient parking and traffic management in major metros across the country.
Indeed, on average, Indian drivers spend 1.5 times the number of hours on the road by their Asian and global counterparts. This leads to frustrated traffic personnel and revenue losses for corporations due to inefficient use of resources, deterring potential car buyers from making a purchase.
How Smart Parking Apps Can Help
The aforementioned problems lead to the degradation of the quality of urban living and atrophying of human resources and physical assets. Smart parking apps such as Get My Parking (GMP) can help in this regard by automating the parking and mobility value chain.
With 30% of the cars circling the roads in Indian metros at any given time looking for vacant parking lots, automation and digitization can curb the losses on this front by informing motorists of vacant parking lots and directing them to such spaces in a seamless and efficient manner.
Moreover, urban living in India is also burdened by higher emissions on account of traffic congestion as motorists spend more time on the roads looking for parking. With studies pointing out that Indian drivers, on average, spend 20 minutes in this pursuit, smart parking apps can reduce congestion on the roads and enhance the quality of urban life in the country.
Even city corporations can benefit from apps such as GMP as smart parking would help them make more efficient use of existing parking lots and ensure better capacity utilization of the assets, in addition to helping them make future investments in physical assets in a scientific manner.
Final Words
For a country that aspires to join the global league of livable cities, it is the need of the hour to actualize efficient and synergistic urban living. As a means to this end, smart parking can help urban planners in designing and implementing international standards of living in metros. With the Indian government launching the smart city initiative, smart parking is a logical progression toward this laudable goal.
To conclude, the challenges of 21st-century metropolis administration can only be met by adopting smart parking systems.