Mumbai Parking Interface: BMC proposes implementation of integrated IT system, check features

BMC headquarters. File Pic

Moving forward with advanced parking system in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have proposed for the implementation of an integrated IT system that would digitise and consolidate all parking inventory of the existing and proposed on-street and off-street parking and those to be included in the Mumbai Parking pool (MPP) from the Govt/ Commercial/ Private organisations including Malls, BEST, etc. into a single database which would be the single platform that the various stakeholders can access, the BMC said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said, for the proposed integrated IT system, BMC seeks to implement a Parking Management solution to improve parking operations, optimise usage of the available parking supply and enhance the overall functioning of streets in the city.

This initiative has multiple benefits, such as -

● Convenience - Digital parking is extremely convenient for operators and the users as it enables the user to make quick payments via contactless modes. Digital contact less transactions can be completed in a fraction of minutes.

● Saves fuel and time - Digital payments help avoid the queue buildup at parking entry and exit gates, which in turn helps save both fuel and time.

● Online Recharge - Payment instruments can be recharged online via UPI, credit/debit cards, Net Banking and other available modes of online payments.

● Payments are tied to a vehicle‘s license plate number (entered through POS or Mobile App), which in turn is used in the enforcement process to check whether the vehicle has paid the fee or not. A regular user will have the option of signing up for a User Account connected to a registered vehicle mobile number(s) that can be used for Parking Fee payment anywhere in the city. Payment would also be integrated with Fastag mode.

● Transactional Alerts - Each time the parking fee is deducted from the customer's account or prepaid wallet and SMS alert is sent to the customers registered mobile number with the transaction details.

● Environment friendly - The main reason for opting for digital payments is to minimize the usage of paper. Additionally, since the vehicles can pass without having to wait in the long serpentine queues, they end up burning less fuels, in turn reducing carbon emissions.

Integrations of all the relevant databases (Parivahaan, Saarthi, E- challan, Mumbai Traffic Police, Mumbai Parking Pool organisations, etc., the BMC said.

"It is a big intervention where all the available parking lots of BMC and all government organisations like MMRDA, Port Trust and road side parking and also Private housing societies parking available for Parking will be brought under a single software interface. This will be a game changer as the public will be able to get lots of information about all parking lots available all over Mumbai 24 x 7 in their mobile and other gadgets. Like overseas where you book your parking slot before you reach. All payments can also be made online without much human interface," said P. Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), BMC.

The BMC said, there would be four phases envisaged (both for Off-street parking and On-Street parking) for this scope of project , where in first phase, it would include only Off-Street parking Equivalent Car Space (ECS), which would cover 32 locations as PPL and 29 locations as APL under the different 17 wards of the BMC, Mumbai.

- The second phase would include On-Street ECS of 65 existing locations and the 530 proposed locations of four wards which includes Pay and Park General (263 locations) and Pay and Park residential (267 locations).

- The third phase would include all the pending On-street proposed parking locations, basically comprising Pay and Park General as 1978 locations and Pay and Park residential as 1573 locations (total of 3551 proposed locations). The Mumbai traffic police department has not yet issued any No Objection Certificate (NOC) to MPA of BMC, Mumbai. Therefore, the proposed locations i.e. 3551 locations of phase 3 have not yet been finalized or the data is subject to change.

- The phase four (4) is mainly for the upcoming ECS in future (if any) and for any other interface for the software RFP.

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Infrastructure RFP -

- The scope pertaining to the hardware RFP shall be documented in a different tender. The model to be adopted for the hardware scope would be on public private partnership (PPP). The roles and responsibilities of the SI who would be selected for the hardware RFP would be mentioned in the respective tender document. The tentative components of the Hardware RFP that would be released separately are as below :

● Cameras with Video Analytics as per Parking Management software solution and/or sensors

● LED Display

● Boom Barriers

● Handheld Mobile/POS Machines

● FasTag/RFID Readers

● Illuminators(for cameras)

● Local Network and Compute

● Connectivity to transfer data

Envisaged Solution

Off-street parking :

The entry and exit boom barriers shall be installed for off street parking spaces. There shall be a pre-booking facility for a window of 2 hours available only for off-street parking. Vehicle details shall be registered using a mobile/web application. User book the slot using online payment option Netbanking /Credit Card/Debit Card/UPI. Notification shall be sent to the user 15 mins before the end of the duration. Payment of fee shall be done at the exit and penalty shall be charged if the user exceeds the stipulated duration.

On-street parking :

No pre booking facility shall be available for on street parking. A list of locations with their slot availability shall be visible to the user as soon as the user reaches within the periphery of 200 meters. An option of online or cash payment would be available to the user. The system integrator shall be responsible for the surveys for the areas designated by the department and thereby, suggest an optimal solution consisting of the cameras with video analytics/sensors.