Kolkata: ‘Parking app trial brings down fleecing complaints’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: The app-based car parking system, which allows motorists to book slots virtually and pay the fees online, has finally been able to reduce fleecing complaints at the lots it has been started.

This was shown in the preliminary report prepared by the Kolkata Traffic Police that also highlighted the need to ensure that enough number of hand-held POS machines were available with parking attendants, internet network was good enough for the app to function properly and all attendants were properly trained to immediately update vacant parking slots on the system for motorists to track real-time status. KMC car parking department officials said the upgrades were planned for the second phase on completion of the initial trial rounds.
“We carried out the survey last weekend and we found that three attendants were using the parking app at the JL Nehru parking lot (Chowringhee) and one on Park Street. No one was found using it at the Lord Sinha Road lot. Motorists said they did not face any difficulty in tracking a vacant slot or paying the fees at the said parking lots. There was, however, a delay in generating the receipt due to poor internet network,” said an officer. Police said they were meeting parking vendors regularly and warning them against any attempt at bypassing the app, citing technical glitch. “We are also asking the attendants to make motorists aware of the app and help them use the online system,” said an officer.
Initially, 62 attendants were trained in using the app and more personnel manning parking spaces across the city would be included every passing week, an official said.
According to a KMC car parking department official, the civic body is in touch with agencies to hand over multiple POS machines at the major car parking lots in south Kolkata and to train more attendants to bring more lots under the app-based parking system. “We have handed over around 70 machines to the agencies so that the parking app can be started at at least 20 major parking lots during the trial run that will continue to for the next couple of months. We hope to increase the number to 100 in coming weeks,” said a civic official. A KMC car parking department official said the civic body was keeping an eye on the development and would convince the agencies running parking lots to ensure that every attendant got the machine and took part in the trial run as soon as possible.