Double to 10 times fee hike at Kolkata Municipal Corporation parking lots from April – Times of India

KOLKATA: The graded parking fee hike, two-to-10 times the current rates, is set to be implemented from April 2023.
After keeping mum on the revised fee structure for cars and two-wheelers for the past three months – after the proposal was first passed in a mayor-in-council meeting on October 18 – the Kolkata Municipal Corporation car parking department passed the proposal in the KMC House on December 18. It has thereafter been sent to the KMC finance department to incorporate the changes in the budget proposal to give it legal validity.
The civic brass had been silent on this issue following criticism from various quarters. In the meantime, it started trials of the app-based parking system that includes digital payment of parking fees.
Anticipating the huge hike in rates within the next three months, most parking attendants have stopped demanding more than the current rate of Rs 10 per hour for cars and Rs 5 per hour for two-wheelers.

The proposal placed and approved at the House doubled the initial parking rate for the first two hours from Rs 10 per hour to Rs 20 per hour for cars and from Rs 5 per hour to Rs 10 per hour for two-wheelers. Thereafter, from the third to the fifth hour, the rate jumps four times to Rs 40 per hour for cars and Rs 20 per hour for two-wheelers. Beyond five hours, the hike is 10-times, to Rs 100 per hour for cars and Rs 50 per hour for two-wheelers.
Motorists said the new fee structure legitimises the amount parking attendants used to demand, and has gone beyond that to make parking unaffordable.
KMC officials argued that the fee hike was long overdue as the existing structure had been in vogue for many years. Civic authorities said besides mopping up revenue, the move could also discourage citizens from purchasing new personal vehicles and encourage use of public transport, thereby reducing congestion and air pollution.
In shopping zones, the average time of parking a vehicle is between two and three hours. A shopper who arrives in a car will have to cough up Rs 80 against Rs 30 at present. For those who add a meal to shopping, the time spent could be up to four hours and parking fee will be Rs 120 instead of Rs 40. Those who combine a meal with cinema and spend up to five hours will see the parking fee increase from Rs 50 to Rs 160.
However, it will hit office-goers the hardest. Parking for 10 hours, which sets motorists back by Rs 100, will now cost Rs 660. The new rate chart does not have a monthly fee that enables office-goers to take a discounted rate by paying upfront for the whole month.