Street parking in Chennai has always been a contentious issue between pedestrians and vehicle owners. As the former wonders where to walk, the latter wonders where to park.
This question becomes even more prominent as Chennai roads bear almost 60 lakh private motor vehicles as of 2021, which is one-fifth the total number of vehicles in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, the count of privatised motor vehicles has increased by two times.
With these recent developments, street parking has become a pressing issue that affects daily life in the city.
Attempts have been made to address the issue with the proposal for multi-level parking spots created in commercial hubs across the city. Despite the Chennai Corporation introducing a multi-level parking zone in Pondy Bazaar, it has not seen a lot of patronage. As a result of the poor response, the plan to construct more multi-level parking spots across the city has been put on hold.
Street parking is also largely free in many parts of the city. This is a huge source of untapped revenue for the civic body.
Read more: Street parking to be charged soon in city: Raj Cherubal, CEO, CSCL
What we aim to address on parking in Chennai
To discuss the many contentious points around street parking in the city, we bring together a diverse panel in an online discussion. The webinar will discuss possible solutions for the parking conundrum and how the civic body can find opportunities for monetisation.
The webinar will aim to discuss broad questions such as
- How to regulate parking in Chennai?
- What are the various ways conflict around parking can be minimised?
- How can the civic body find ways to earn revenue from parking?
- How are other cities dealing with issues around street parking?
- What are the lessons for Chennai and the way forward?
The webinar will be followed by a brief Q & A session open to participants.
The discussion will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel. A summary of the discussion will be shared on the website, and the recording will be available on YouTube.
Read more: All is not well at the T Nagar Pedestrian Plaza
Our speakers
Raj Cherubal, CEO, Chennai Smart City Limited
Raj Cherubal is the CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited (CSCL). Smart Cities is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, implemented in Chennai by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Greater Chennai Corporation, to improve infrastructure and services of the city. He has worked on various projects on traffic, sustainable transportation and urban planning focused on pedestrians and pedestrianisation, among other things.
Kannan Balachandran
Kannan Balachandran has been a resident of T. Nagar since 1974, and he is now the Secretary of the T. Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.
Aswathy Dilip
Aswathy Dilip is the Managing Director of ITDP India. She is a sought-after expert in raising support for sustainable mobility from key decision-makers, governments and stakeholders. With support from her smart and enthusiastic team, she works with the National, State and City governments; providing them technical assistance on sustainable and equitable urban mobility.
Sanjay Pinto
Sanjay Pinto is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court, columnist, author of four books and former Resident Editor of NDTV 24×7. He is a regular panellist on prime-time debates on national TV news channels. Apart from this, Sanjay speaks about civic issues, including parking of vehicles on Chennai roads.
David Bharath Kumar
David Bharat Kumar is a Tamil Nadu Police Traffic Warden. He is also an event planner, journalist and Director of Bodhi Group of Chennai. As a traffic warden, he has taught the dos and don’t’s of road safety for children in more than 100 schools.