ISSN (Online) 2456 -1304 International Journal of Science, Engineering and Management (IJSEM) Vol 5, Issue 4, April 2020 Parking Study in M G Road, Kochi [1] Greeshma.S, [2] Aleena.Xavier [1] M.Plan (Urban Planning) Student, Dept. of Architecture, TKMCE, Kollam [2] Assistant Professor, Dept. of Architecture, TKMCE, Kollam Abstract: - Parking is an important part to give concern in the transportation sector of a city. The population is increasing in India and it hit 135 crores in the year 2018 and vehicle population is also increasing which hit 253 million in the year 2018 as per the research conducted by the ’Statista Research Department’. So, it is important to manage these vehicle population since the vehicles are kept idle most of the time somewhere. Globally the parking management dimensions are changing. In India we increase the parking supply according to increasing demand. Since land is a precious resource spending more land on parking is not ideal. Therefore, rather than increasing the supply more management solutions are suggested all over the world. The study focuses on parking issues and existing parking conditions as well as drawbacks of one of the very busy stretch of Kochi city i.e. M G road. M G road was identified as the stretch with maximum parking demand and the stretch with maximum parking issues in Kochi Masterplan 2031. The stretch always faces problems related to parking as well as congestion. Both the sides of the stretch carry a large number of branded as well as local shops. And the regulations implemented here after the commencement of metro has created a lot of impacts in transportation as well as the commercial sector of the area. The study is an attempt to analyze the existing problems, and to suggest some general solutions. Key words— Parking, Parking management. I. INTRODUCTION and the growth is concentrated in cities as the cities are attractive in nature. It is important to find space for each Parkingis an essential component of the transportation vehicle getting into an urban area. It is important to manage system. Vehicles must park at every destination. A typical the parking areas since the parked vehicles cause various automobile is parked 23 hours each day, and uses several problems in a city’s growth. Providing space for each vehicle parking spaces each week. Parking convenience affects the in a city is practically impossible. Therefore, management of ease of reaching destinations and therefore affects overall the parking areas available are important. Parked vehicles accessibility. Parking facilities are a major cost to society, along the roads causes hindrance to the vehicles moving as and parking conflicts are among the most common problems well as to the pedestrians. On street parking areas are facing designers, operators, planners and other officials. Such properly demarcated in many of the countries. But as far as problems can be often defined either in terms of supply or in India is concerned on street parking areas are poorly terms of management. Management solutions tend to be managed causing more problems to the passengers. The better than expanding supply because they support more strategic planning objectives.(1) traffic congestion created makes the city less attractive since the passengers will have to spend a lot of time in this. The II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY accidents caused due to this also creates a risky image for the users. (2) As the population increases vehicle population also increases. Land is a precious resource and it is limited too. Each vehicle which is manufactured has to be parked Expanding the supply of parking according to the increasing somewhere and it consumes land. Land is a limited resource vehicle demand is indirectly depleting the land resource. The and wasting land for parking vehicles is a major concern. Globally the strategies has been changed more towards land which is wasted for parking can be used for different management approaches rather than expanding the parking purposes. Parking generates a less revenue when compared to space. the other activities that can be carried out in the specific area. III. PARKING MANAGEMENT AND ITS Therefore, spending too much land on this creates shortage of IMPORTANCE income. A city that spends its land too much on parking attracts Since parking is a major concern in transportation sector of less people. It gradually affects the beauty of the city. It a city, parking management is an important area to give makes people or users uncomfortable in engaging in different concern. Vehicle population shows an uncontrollable growth All Rights Reserved © 2020 IJSEM 108 ISSN (Online) 2456 -1304 International Journal of Science, Engineering and Management (IJSEM) Vol 5, Issue 4, April 2020 activities happening in the cities. Vehicles emits more V. KERALA SCENARIO greenhouse gases while they are in a traffic congested area The number of vehicles per 1000 population for Kerala in which creates pollution.(1) March 2016 is 305.The total number of privately-registered In order to avoid these problems, it is important to manage cars in the state rose to 2.15 lakhs in 2017 as compared to the parking areas providing management solutions. Since 1.89 lakhs registered in 2016. The number of two-wheelers India being a highly populated area and its population is has grown from 6.05 lakh in 2016 to 6.6 lakh in 2017. The concentrated on cities, it is important to manage tha parking highest vehicle population was recorded in Ernakulum areas to facilitate easy flow of traffic. district with 15, 59,270 vehicles (15.37 percent) followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 12, 90,592 (12.69 percent). IV. PARKING SCENARIO IN INDIA Explosive growth in the number of automobiles escalates parking demand causing footpaths and open spaces being swallowed by parking. The India State of the Environment Report, 2001, brings the following figures to our attention: the total road network has increased only 8 times from 0.4 million kilometres in 1950-51 to 3.3 million kilometres in1995-96. The slow growth of road infrastructure and high Figure 2 Increasing trend of vehicular population in Kerala growth of transport performance and number of vehicles all imply that Indian roads are reaching a saturation point in From the study conducted by the MOUD on on-street utilising the existing capacities.In India increase in urban parking some conclusions were made. 30 countries were growth is accompanied by the growth in private vehicle studied in terms of the road characteristics. ownership.(3) Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi were the two cities selected Explosive growth in the number of automobiles escalates for the study. Kochi was found to be using around 58% of parking demand causing footpaths and open spaces being roads on parking purpose. The highest vehicle population swallowed by parking. Increasing the number of parking lots was recorded in Ernakulum district with 15, 59,270 vehicles and reduction in parking charges to keep up with the rising (15.37 percent) followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 12, demand does notsolve the problem. In India it is 13 cars per 90,592 (12.69 percent).(4) 1000 population. With such a smaller number of cars per 1000 population we are facing a tremendous issue related to the parking of these cars. Increase in urban growth is accompanied by the growth in private vehicles.The total road network has increased 8 times from 0.4 million kilometres in 1950 to 3.3 million kilometres in 1995. The gradual growth of road infrastructure and high growth of transport performance and number of vehicles all shows that theIndian roads are reaching a saturation point. Figure 3 Percentage of roads used for on street parking in Indian cities Figure 1 increasing trend of vehicular population in India Figure 4 parking index of Indian cities Approximately 40% of the roads in urban India are taken The parking index of the thirty cities were found and were up for just parking the cars. People from low income group compared. Kochi shows a poor parking index which were nowadays own cars. The number of families with cars has calculated according to the physical parameters of the roads become much more than what the country is able to manage. of the cities.So, considering the study conducted by MOUD, The usage of private transport has increased. (3) in Kerala, the most severe parking issues are found in Kochi city. Since Kochi is a region which faces issues in transportation sector which is caused due to the traffic All Rights Reserved © 2020 IJSEM 109 ISSN (Online) 2456 -1304 International Journal of Science, Engineering and Management (IJSEM) Vol 5, Issue 4, April 2020 congestion. The traffic congestion during the peak hours are comes around 1.2 km stretch. Since M G Road is a very high in many of the important roads. The town planning commercial hub, the shoppers prefer to park their vehicles department in Kochi city region has prepared a masterplan near to the shops. Therefore, the preferable walking distance for the year 2031 in which they had identified 5 major severe is taken as 100 m and 100 m from the stretch to both left and stretches.(5) They are listed in the table below. right side is taken as the study area. On the north side the stretch connects to the Banerjee road and to the south it connects to the ground junction. A road lies parallel to the M G Road, Chittoor road which ideally reduces the congestion observed in the M G Road. The major junctions in between the stretch area Padma Junction and Shenoys junction. The stretch along M G road is highly commercialised region of Cochin Corporation.