Delhi’s new parking policy implementation: 6 things you need to know

The training of civic officials to effectively formulate and implement PMAPs has already begun

After a lull of nearly five months due to the coronavirus disease pandemic, the implementation of the Parking Management Area Plan (PMAP) is slowly kicking. The training of civic officials to effectively formulate and implement PMAPs has already begun.

Here are six things you need to know about the parking policy and PMAPs.

1.What is Delhi’s parking policy for?

The parking reforms were notified on September 23, 2019 by the Delhi government as Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Places Rules, 2019, commonly known as parking policy. Under the policy, municipal agencies will make parking management area plans (PMAPs) and regularise haphazard parking in residential as well as market areas. It also recommends a dynamic pricing mechanism for parking in peak and non-peak hours.

2.What is a PMAP?

It is an area-specific solution to streamline vehicular parking in residential and commercial areas. Municipal agencies have been authorised to make parking management area plans with neighbourhood-specific solutions. The PMAP primarily aims at giving priority to pedestrians, cyclists, emergency vehicles and vending zones by improving availability of on-street and off-street parking in any area. In Delhi, these PMAPs are to be developed for almost the entire city by the three civic bodies — North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

3.Dynamic Pricing Mechanism

Dynamic pricing mechanism aims to motivate people to avoid roadside parking for long durations in market areas. It means that user will have to pay at least double for on-street parking for the first hour as much as off-street (multi-level, stack, cinema, mall) parking. On-street parking fees shall increase exponentially with every hour to discourage long duration.

4. The pilot project

After notification of the parking policy, three areas in south, east and north Delhi were chosen to be developed as model areas. These parking reforms were implemented in Lajpat Nagar-III in south Delhi, Krishna Nagar in east and Kamla Nagar in north Delhi on a pilot basis. Haphazard parking in these areas was regularised and at least one main market street was pedestrianised in Krishna Nagar and Kamla Nagar. However, Karol Bagh market was the first place where PMAP was first implemented in May 2019 even before the policy was approved.

5. Current status of the policy

In June this year, vehicular movement was allowed on pedestrianised stretches in Krishna Nagar, Karol Bagh and Kamla Nagar on traders’ demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now the Supreme Court has asked civic bodies to present a roll-out plan for the entire city. So the civic bodies have started training its engineers on the modalities of PMAPs and how to implement them in neighbourhoods as part of the new parking policy. Officials are being trained on how to make PMAPs for different localities in a way that they meet parking requirements.

6. The way forward

Now after training the officials, the civic bodies will start consultations with the RWAs and market associations in a fortnight to draw parking management area plans. According to civic officials, the municipalities have to submit PMAPs for areas under their jurisdiction to the Supreme Court by the end of the year. Initially those residential areas would be picked which are located near busy markets and witness spillover of vehicles. Pedestrians facilities will witness a major push under the parking policy.