RailEnquiry

The first among the several suggestions that people of Coimbatore have come up with to address the congestion caused by haphazard parking of vehicles, is the introduction of mono rail.In a survey done by the students of Department of Commerce (unaided) of PSG College of Arts and Science, out of the 300 respondents, nearly two-thirds have suggested the mono rail as a decongestion solution.This was inferred from the survey “Parking Problems in Coimbatore City” undertaken by 50 students of the department. The survey was conducted in four busy areas throughout January.According to D. Devarajan, Head of the Department, under whose guidance the survey was carried out, the objectives were fourfold — to identify reasons for parking problems, find out the level of awareness among people towards the parking facilities, measure the current level of satisfaction towards parking facilities, and suggest possible alternative measures in overcoming the problems.

Though the respondents at Town Hall, Cross Cut Road, Hope College, and R.S. Puram, faced parking problems, the maximum trouble was at Town Hall. More than 70 per cent of the respondents said the problems surfaced as a result of insufficient parking space in the city. This was magnified during festival seasons when the influx of people to these areas was very high.

This led to people parking wherever they got space and hence congesting the side roads, pavements, and walking area, thereby making it impossible for pedestrians to use the road safely. Those who chose to park in the limited parking area grumbled that the parking fee was very high.

In addition to the suggestions people came up with, students who conducted the survey also have added their own. Though their top suggestion is the multilayered car parking, they have stressed the need for drawing up a Parking Policy based on the outcome of the international conference on “Parking Reforms for a Liveable City” organised by the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, which has emphasised that each city must design a parking policy.

The conclusion that the students have arrived at is that whatever be the measures to combat parking problems, the support of the public in cooperating to make the system well regulated was essential.