Coming soon to Mumbai: online booking of parking spots

The BMC has some good news for car owners in Mumbai. It is planning to introduce online booking of parking slots for the 92 functioning parking lots it has in the city, according to the Times of India. A contractor has already been appointed to install the necessary software and provide the hand-held devices for car-lot attendants to monitor which cars enter and exit the lots. The device is meant to record the time and date the car enters the lot and the car model. When the car leaves, the device will issue a receipt that will state the time spent in the lot. [caption id=“attachment_549287” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mumbai’s motorists might find parking a little easier if the BMC’s plan to offer online booking takes off. AFP[/caption] The devices will be connected to the central server on the BMC website, which will provide users with a list of free and occupied spots in all the parking lots, which can totally accommodate 10,314 vehicles. Users can then choose where they want to book a parking slot by mentioning their time of arrival and will be given a half-hour window. If a user fails to show up within that window, the booking will lapse. Car owners will also be able to view the number of free slots available when they enter a lot. According to additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta, the service will be available from January 1 but users may not be able to pay online when they make a booking straight away. “We are still fine tuning the system to accommodate a mechanism where the car owner can pay online,” he said.