Bhubaneswar Smart City introduces app based parking

The Bhubaneswar Smart City (BSCL) has started pre-booking of parking spots on the busy Janpath through the Mo parking app for hassle-free and organised parking to give a pleasing look to the stretch and manage traffic better.The 3.9-km-long stretch, which boasts of rows of shops, malls, hotels and commercial establishments on one side and government quarters and residential complexes on the other, has become Smart Janpath. Several changes were made with a top architect being involved in the design to make it not just a road but a living space. Parking was the biggest challenge on Janpath and hence, the BSCL worked on developing smart parking along the stretch.Technology-based parking booking facility is a step towards smart living in a city like Bhubaneswar. It will help to check illegal parking and undue harassment, save time, decongest the stretch and look nice.The central smart parking system is installed at the Integrated City Operations and Management Centre (ICOMC) that provides real-time information on the basis of which a particular slot is booked for a particular vehicle. Such facilities are present in very few metro cities and may provide a huge reprieve for commuters from a chaotic traffic experience.BSCL has also installed sensors at the parking lots, which work on radio frequency. They send vehicle parking inputs to the hand-held device of a parking agent and to the central server as well. The parking lots are being manned by transgender group Swikriti. And the software helps obtain real-time parking space occupancy or availability.In case of on-spot parking, the agents manning the parking spaces carry point of sale (PoS) devices to charge the parking fee.However, other areas of the smart city witness parking woes every evening. On NH-16 near Jayadev Vihar, which has turned into a parking bay for express and deluxe buses, has choked the main road, while the underpass near Indradhanu Market faces traffic snarls.