ABSTRACT

PMG- Kesavadasapuram Road has turned to be one of the busiest roads in

Thiruvananthapuram city. It is the main connecting link between the central business district and
the main residential areas in Thiruvananthapuram city. The numbers of vehicles are going on
increasing at an alarming rate. The commercialization of the area is also happening at a fast rate.
The investment on roads and for parking facilities have not kept in pace with these growing
traffic leading to congestion and accidents. Though multistoried office complexes and shops are
common in Thiruvananthapuram, sufficient parking facilities are not provided according to
demand for these buildings.
This study was mainly aimed to find the present parking scenario in the area which
included parking demand, parking supply and to suggest suitable solutions to meet the parking
problems in the PMG Kesavadasapuram area.

SeminarsTopics.com

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
One of the problems created by road traffic is parking. Not only do vehicles require street space
to move about, but also do they require space to park where the occupants can be loaded an
unloaded. The period over which a car is parked is very great compared with the time it is in
motion. The size of average parking space is 14 m2. It is roughly estimated that out of 8760
hours in a year, the car runs on an average for only 400 hours, leaving 8360 hours when it is
parked. Every car owner would wish to park the car as closely as possible to his destination so
as to minimize his walking. This results in a great demand for parking space in the CBD and
other areas where the activities are concentrated. With the growing population of motor
vehicles, the problem of parking has assumed serious proportions.
Parking control has become the chief means available to cities all over the world to limit
congestion. It is the enforcement of laws and regulations. Illegally parked cars are seen almost
everywhere. Traffic congestion is like a malignant disease and due to lack of car parking
facilities in the centre of cities, land values tend to fall. The ideal solution would be to rebuild
our cities to the requirements of the motor car age. Such proposals may be included in a long
term plan. But motor vehicles must be accommodated urgently otherwise the consequences may
be very serious resulting in the loss of business and property values.
The provision and citing of car parks should be related to the future traffic flow of the
roads that will be carrying traffic to the city or town. The wise sitting of car parks can make it
possible to increase the number of cars that can be parked in a city centre, without causing
congestion. When considering the adaptation of city centers to accommodate the motor car, the
pedestrians must also be considered. While cars are permitted to circulate our city centers, there
must be some regulation control which will give the maximum use of the space available. This
will be to the advantage of everyone concerned. Adequate planned and organize car parking is
essential to the life of our cities. The local authorities must be strong minded on this subject.
Car parks are not likely to make big profits as a business house. But adequate car parking is a
necessary part of development in a city centre and without it trade cannot prosper.

SeminarsTopics.com

One of the problems created by road traffic is parking. Not only do vehicles require street
space to move about, but also do they require space to park where the occupants can be loaded
and unloaded. A systematic study of the parking characteristics and demand and regulatory
measures that are possible for controlling parking is of great help to a traffic engineer as well as
town planner.

1.2 Ill-effects of Parking

1.2.1 Congestion
One of the serious ill-effects of parking is the loss of street space and the resulting traffic
congestions. The capacity of the streets is reduced, the journey speed drops down and the
journey time and delay increase. The operational cost of vehicles is thereby increased, causing
serious economic loss to the community.

1.2.2 Accidents
The maneuvers associated with parking and unparking are known to cause road accidents.
Careless opening of the doors of parked vehicles, moving out of a parked position and bringing
a car to he parking location from the mainstream of traffic are some of the common causes of
parking accidents.

1.2.3 Obstruction to Fire Fighting Operations

Parked cars obstruct the movement of fire fighting vehicles and greatly impede their
operations. They block access to hydrants and access to buildings.

SeminarsTopics.com

1.2.4 Effect on Environment

Parked vehicles degrade the environment of the town centre. Stopping and starting of
vehicles result in noise and fumes. Cars parked into every little available space debase the visual
aesthetics and buildings seems to rise from a plinth of cars.
In spite of the above ill-effects, parking has to be allowed on the streets or off the streets
close to the users destination. The well being of the community and the town centre demands
that great thought should be bestowed with the parking needs and how best to fulfill them.

1.3 Need for the Study

Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam

is

one

of

the

most

congested

locations

in

Thiruvananthapuram city. High volume of traffic consisting of both fast and slow moving
vehicles is plying through the road. The growth rates are reflected in the growth of traffic
volume on the roads, thus leading to congestion and subsequent reduction in speed. So it has
become necessary to project the future traffic growth and thereby finding out the requirement of
increase in carriage way widths required to carry this traffic. The parking space provided is not
sufficient to meet the parking demand. Hence it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of
the traffic characteristics and parking demand of the area.

1.4 Objectives

The objectives of the study are:

1) To study the parking characteristics in Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam road and to

assess whether the demand is met with.
2) Identification of the problems in traffic and parking in Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam
road
3) To project the present traffic scenario in Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam road.

SeminarsTopics.com

4) To improve the parking facilities utilizing the available infrastructure for meeting the
parking demand of various categories of vehicles.
5) To smoothen the vehicular traffic flow by conducting relevant traffic studies.

1.5 Scope of the study

The scope of the present study is limited to the prediction of traffic volume and parking
demand for the year 2007 for the major roads in Vellayambalam-Sasthamangalam location.

SeminarsTopics.com

2.

LITERATURE REVIES

2.1 Parking Facilities in General and Some Common Terms

First of all, it is desirable to understand clearly the meanings of certain terms associated
with parking. These terms and their meanings are given below.
1.

Parking Accumulation-The total number of vehicles parked in an area at a specified

moment. [Fig 2.1]

Figure 2.1 Parking Accumulation Diagram

2. Parking volume- The number of vehicles parked in a particular area over a given period
of time. It is usually measured in vehicles per day.
3. Parking load- The area under the parking accumulation curve during a specified period.
4. Parking duration-The length of time spent in a parking space.
5. Parking index- Percentage of parking bays actually occupied by parked vehicles as
compared to the theoretical number available.

Parking index

SeminarsTopics.com

Number of bays occupied x 100

-----------------------------------------------------------------Theoretical number of bays available

6. Parking turn-over- Rate of the usage of the available parking space. Thus if there were 10
parking spaces used by 100 vehicles in a period of say 12 hours then the parking turnover
would be
=

100 vehicles per space in a period of 12 hours

-------10

In shopping centers, public places and localities with offices, there may be shortage of
parking facilities. Proper design of parking facilities is essential in such cases. Parking facilities
may be broadly divided into two types:
1. One street or Kerb Parking
2. Off street Parking

2.2

On-street or Kerb Parking

In this type of parking vehicles are parked on the kerb which may be designed for parking.
Kerb parking is quite convenient for those who could find a suitable space to park their vehicles
near to the place they wish to stop, but for others who could not find a parking space it is a
problem and often they may have to park their vehicles at a far off place you know and walk
done to destination. Unless kerb parking facility has been adequately designed in a dance, it
might lead to a lot of inconvenience and congestion due to decreased road capacity.
Angle parking or parallel parking may allowed in the kerb parking. Angle parking mat be
at angles 30, 60 or 90 degrees. Angles parking accommodates more vehicles per unit lengh of
kerb and maximum vehicles that can be parked are with an angle of 90 degrees. The width of
road required for parking and unparking maneuver also is more with angle parking and it
increase with the parking angle up to a maximum at 90 degree angle. Angle parking is more
convenient for the motorists than parallel parking, but it produces much more obstruction to the
through traffic resulting in more accidents than the parallel parking. Out of various angles used

SeminarsTopics.com

in angle parking, 45 degree angle is considered as the best. The various patterns of kerb parking
are whoen in figures 2.2(a), 2.2(b), 2.2(c), 2.2(d) 2.2(e).

Figure 2.2(a): Parallel Parking

Figure 2.2(b): 30 degree Parking

Figure 2.2(c) : 45 degree Parking

SeminarsTopics.com

Fig 2.2(d): 60 degree Parking

Fig 2.2(e): 90 degree Parking

2.3 Off-street Parking

On-street parking can only solve a part of the paring problem. For a satisfactory solution
various types of off-street parking facilities are also be considered. The types of off-street
facilitates commonly considered are:
Surface car parks
Multistoried car parks
Roof parks
Mechanical parks
Underground car parks

SeminarsTopics.com

2.3.1 Surface Car Parks

Surface car parks properly located and developed on a piece of vacant land or
surrounding an office complex or super market is very popular with motorists. Great care is
needed in their design and operation. The overall aesthetics of the area should receive due
attention. A stall size of 2.5 x 5m is probably adequate for Indian conditions, predominated by
small size cars, where as for Amerian conditions 2.6 x 5.5m is recommended. A variety of
layouts is possible depending upon the area. If the surface park is to be operated with a free
charging system, there should be arrangement for collecting the money. This can be done either
manually by stationing an attendant at the entrance who sells the parking tickets. A few of them
are illustrated in the figures 2.3.1(a), 2.3.1(b) and 2.3.1(c), 2.32.1(e), 2.3.1(g).

Fig. 2.3.1(a): Off-street

Parking for 34 cars

Fig. 2.3.1(b): Off-street

Parking for 33 cars

Fig. 2.3.1(c): Off-street

Parking for 32 cars

Fig. 2.3.1(d): Off-street

Parking for 31 cars

SeminarsTopics.com

Fig. 2.3.1(e): Off-street

Parking for 28 cars

Fig. 2.3.1(f): Off-street

Parking for 26 cars

Fig. 2.3.1(g): Off-street

Parking for 26 cars

2.3.2 Multistoreyed Car Parks

Multistoreyed parking garages [Fig. 2.3.2] are restored to when the floor space available
for the parking garage is less and is very costly. It is possible to construct multistoreyed garages
to park a large number of cars at a time. It is necessary to provide the inter floor travel facility
for the vehicles, such as elevators, ramps, etc.
Multistoreyed car parks are designed for a capacity of about 400 to 500 cars. It involves
larger capacity lands to increase the time for unparking a car. Some of the desirable standards
for designing of the multistoreyed car parks are:

SeminarsTopics.com

1)

Gradient of the ramp: 1 in 10 generally and 1 in 8 for very short ramps

2)

Parking stall dimensions: 2.5m x 5m

3)

Clear height between floors: 2.1m

4)

Inside radius of curves: 7m

5)

Width of traffic lane on ramps and entrances: 3.75m

6)

Gradient of slopping floors: not steeper than 1 in 20

7)

Loading standards: 400 kg/m2

Fig. 2.3.2: Multistoreyed Car Parking

The arrangement of floors and the access ramps needs careful design. Ramps are
preferably made on way. In case of planning a two way system, they should be suitably level
floors and direct floor to floor ramps. Another arrangement is with parking floors themselves
continuously sloping to gain access from the level to other horizontal floors with separate helical
entrance and exit ramps have been found to be efficient. The car parking floors, the ramps, the
entrance and the exit should be well illuminated.
SeminarsTopics.com

2.3.3 Roof of Parks

A very popular method of solving the parking problems adopted in many cities is to park
the vehicles on roof tops. Access ramps or mechanical lifts provide the necessary access to
roofs. To economies, many roofs may be linked together served by a single access ramp. In
addition to the ramp, extra cost is involved in designing the roof tops and the structural elements
for the parking lots. An extensive system of linked car parks at roof level, integrated with multi
level, integrated with multi storeyed parking garages is in use.

2.3.4 Underground Car Parks

The great advantage of underground car parks [Fig 2.3.4] is the least intrusion they cause
to the aesthetics of a place. These parks can be built in the basement of any multistoreyed
building or below open spaces. Since the work involves large quantities of excavation,
construction of retaining walls, ventilation and lighting such car parks tend to be very costly.

Figure. 2.3.4: Underground Parking

SeminarsTopics.com

2.4

Peripheral Parking Schemes

Since the centre of the town is the worst hit by the parking problem, it is natural to think
in terms of providing parking facilities at the periphery of the town and induce the motorists to
park there and travel to the busy town centre by some other mode. There are a number of
schemes which have be devised to secure the desired objectives. They are

1. Park and walk

2. Park and ride

2.4.1 Park and Walk

Under this scheme the motorists are included to park at the outskirts of the town and walk
down to the town centre. The inducement is in the form of lower parking charges at the
periphery than at the town centre or no parking charges at all. The inducement should be rally
attractive if the scheme has to succeed.

2.4.2 Park and Ride

This scheme provide for peripheral parking facilities and public transport side to the
destinations in the town centre. This is an attractive scheme and has been tried with success in
many towns. Since the motorist voluntarily parks his car at the fringe under these schemes, the
scheme should be really appealing to him. For success, the total travel time including parking
time, waiting time at the bus stop and travel time by bus should not be excessively high to make
him look at it with disfavour and decide to bring the car to the town centre in spite of the high
parking charges there. Also, the cost of peripheral parking plus the charges for to and fro
journey by bus should be less than the cost of travel by his car plus the charges for parking at
the town centre.

SeminarsTopics.com

3. PARKING STUDIES
3.1 General
Parking studies usually are prerequisite to developing new or expanded parking
programs. The studies should be designed to:
1) Inventory of existing parking space supply and measure current levels of space usage
(accumulation and space turn over).
2) Identify salient parking characteristics (duration, purpose, trip destination and walking
distances to destination).
3) Qualify demands and needs.
4) Estimate facility capital and operating costs, usage and revenues.

Cost and revenue estimates can then be compared to assess the financial feasibility of an
overall parking improvement program. The feasibility study should determine:

1. How many spaces are needed under present conditions?

2. How many spaces will be needed under future conditions?
3. Where should additional spaces be located?
4. What type of patrons will they serve (short or long term) and what are their
characteristics?
5. What parking rates are realistic?

3.2 Types of Parking Studies

A parking study may be concerned with an individual trip generator or facility, such as a
hospital or office building, or with the entire CBD. It should determine not only where motorists
can and do park, but also where they would like to park and how there parking practices affect
other transportation facilities. Parking studies provide the data essential to develop programs to
meet parking needs.
Full scale, comprehensive parking studies involving extensive data collection through
parker interviews and other means, and detailed analysis provide a sound basis for estimating
SeminarsTopics.com

parking usage and determining appropriate actions. Comprehensive study generally considered
requisite for estimating parking usage and needs on a block by block basis in large cities.
However, parking study costs and complexity can be reduced in smaller cities where a
familiarity with the area and its principal parking generators will often permit reliable judgments
by using a more limited type of study without parking interviews. A limited parking study may
rely on measuring parking usage by hourly accumulation counts of parked vehicles or facility
occupancy checks.

3.2.1 Types of Parking Surveys

The types of parking surveys are usually conducted as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Parking Space in inventory

Parking Usage Survey by Patrol
Questionnaire Type Parking Usage Survey
Cordon Count

3.2.1 Parking Space Inventory

The first step in a parking survey is to collect data and amount, type and location of space
actually or potentially available for parking in an area. The area to be surveyed should first
delineate. The Central Business District [CBD] is usually the area where the parking survey is
needed. The area surrounding the CBD where the parking spills over should be included in the
survey. The survey area is then subdivided on a street by street basis and the sub-divisions
marked on the map. Sketch plans of the streets are then prepared in advance. The data on parking
facilities should be recorded on the sketch using suitable symbols. The items to be recorded
include the following:
Frequency of patrol: A frequency of half an hour is considered to be satisfactory for On
Street Parking while a frequency of 1 hour could be used Off Street Parking.
Method of Observation: Usually patrols are by foot, but where vehicles are not parked,
too close to one another a moving car may be also used. As an aid a tape recorded may also be
used to record the registration numbers of vehicles.

SeminarsTopics.com

Timing of the survey: The survey should be done on a typical weekday free from factors
likely to result in non representative characteristics.
Equipment and form of recording: Each observer will be equipped with a watch,
pencil, supply of forms, a map of the street and a form.

3.2.1.3 Questionnaire Type Parking Usage Survey

The questionnaire Type Parking usage survey involves interviews with the drivers who
use the parking facilities. As a result it is possible to collect information on the extend to which
existing facilities are being used, the parking requirements at the process existing at the time of
survey, the distribution of demand over the area and time and journey purposes of car parkers. In
this interview of actual parkers, the information collected should include:
1. Address of origin of trip
2. Address of destination of trip
3. Trip purpose
4. Time of arrival at the parking place
5. Time of departure from the parking place
6. Type of parking space used
7. Type of vehicle used

3.2.1.4 Cordon Count

In this method, the area to be surveyed is demarcated by a cordon line, which is crossed
by the road emanating from the area. Counting Stations are established at the crossing points and
a count is made for all vehicles entering and leaving the area. The difference between the top
traffic gives the number of vehicles parked and in motion in the area.

SeminarsTopics.com

3.2.2 Comprehensive Parking Studies

A comprehensive parking study usually includes interviews to parkers in addition to
measurement of facility usage. The interviews are designed to obtain information on:

Location where parked

Trip purpose and frequency

Primary trip destination

Length of time parked

Parking fees paid and

Distance walked from primary space to primary destination

Determining where parkers desire to park requires interviewing parkers at parking

facilities or major trip generators. The location and extent of the interview sample is prime factor
in how comprehensive and expensive the study will be, and the usefulness of the findings.
Postcard questionnaires, trip origin destination studies and license type surveys are sometime
used to collect information, although direct parker interviewing is the most common and reliable
method.
Interviews of employees and visitors at major trip generators can provide ancillary
information relative to household characteristics, travel modes and attitudes, and pedestrian
flows. They also allow parking and trip generation to be correlated with particular type of land
uses.
The comprehensive parking study is designed to appraise trends in parking space used,
identifying any special parking problems and provide a sound basis for planned actions and
feasibility analysis. It normally provides information on the capacity and use of existing parking
facilities, characteristics of parking, location and extends of parking demand, the influence of
major traffic and parking generators, future parking needs, adequacy of existing laws and
ordinances, limitations of administrative responsibility and financial capabilities.

SeminarsTopics.com

4.3 Land Use Survey

4.3.1 General
Parking mainly depends upon the land-use pattern. According to the land uses, the
parking accumulation may vary. So, in order to obtain the parking demand model, different land
use variables should be considered. But, these variables vary from place to place.
Shopping centers attract more people towards them than most other land-uses. But, the
parking requirements of different Commercial centers are not the same. They vary from one to
one. Some Commercial centre attracts more customers to it. Subdivision of Commercial centre
and offices were taken for the analysis. Commercial centers are classified into two. They are
Customer attractive Commercial centers and Non-customer attractive Commercial centers.
The nature of the Commercial centre was decided by making observations at the
particular site for 1 hour. Commercial centre in which more than 5 customers visited within 1
hour was taken as Customer attractive Commercial centre; otherwise it was taken as Noncustomer attractive Commercial centre. Shops like textiles attracted more customers whereas in
Beauty Parlours, Printing shops etc. customers were less. The table 4.1 shows the types of shops
considered for this study.

SeminarsTopics.com

Table 4.1 Types of Shops

No

Customer attractive Shops

Non-Customer attractive shops

Textile

Electricals

Vegetable Shop

Printing Shop

Restaurant

Furniture

Stationery

Grocery Shop

Flower marts

Beauty Parlour

Fancy Shop

Tailoring Shop

Internet caf

Hotel

Photostat shop

Mill

STD Booth

Appliances

10

Bakery

Electronics Shop

In some offices, there wasnt any customer whereas customers in addition to employees
were seen in some other offices. The parking space required for the latter type is more. Based on
this the offices are classified as customer attractive and Non-customer attractive offices. The
details are shown in Table 4.2
Table 4.2 Types of Office
Number

Customer attractive Office

Non-Customer attractive Office

Bank

School

Post Office

Government Offices

For all the sections the buildings are divided into

1.
2.
3.
4.

Customer Attractive Shops (CAS)

Non-customer Attractive Shops (NCAS)
Customer Attractive Office (CAO)
Non-customer Attractive Office (NCAO)

SeminarsTopics.com

6.2.3

Kerala Municipality Building Rules

Kerala municipality building rules for off-street parking space is given by the Table 6.1

Table: 6.1 Off-street Parking Space

Sl
No:

Occupancy

Group A1-residential apartment

houses/flats

Group
A2-special
residential
lodging and rooming houses,
tourist homes and hostels,
dormitories etc. without any
attached eating facility such as
restaurant, canteen, cafeteria, mess
or dinning.

SeminarsTopics.com

One parking space for every or fraction

of
a.
8 units (with each unit upto 100 sq.m
of carpet area)
b.
4 units (with each unit 102 to 150
sq.m of carpet area)
c.
2 units (with each unit 151 to 200
sq.m of carpet area)
d.
Single unit (exceeding 200m of
carpet area)
Rooms with attached bath and Water
Closet
(a) 8 rooms (with each room upto
12sq.m carpet area)
(b) 5 rooms (with each room 12 to
(i)
20 sq.m carpet area)
(c) 3 rooms (with each room above
20 sq.m carpet area)
Rooms without attached bath and
Water Closet
(a) 18 rooms (with each room upto 5
sq.m carpet area)
(b) 12 rooms (with each rooms 5 to
12 sq.m carpet area)
(ii) (c) 6 rooms (with each room above
12 sq.m carpet area)
Note: at the rate of 1 parking space for
every 30 sq.m carpet area of dinning
space/20 seats of dinning accommodation
shall be provided in addition to the above
in the case of special residential buildings
attached with eating facility.

4
5

6
7

8
9
10

Group B-Educational
(1) High school, higher secondary
school, junior technical school,
industrial training institutes etc.
(2) Higher educational institutions
Group C-Medical/Hospitals
Group D-Assembly

Group E-Business/Office Building

Group F-Mercantile/Commercial
building exceesing 75 sq.m of
carpet area
Group
G1-Small
Industrial
exceeding 100sq.m of carpet area
Group
G2-Small
Industrial
exceeding 100sq.m of carpet area
Group H-Storage

SeminarsTopics.com

(i)

300 sq.m of carpet area

(ii) 200 sq.m of carpet area

100 sq.m of carpet area
25 Seats of accommodation
Note:- (i) In the case of wedding halls and
community halls for calculating in the
carpet area or seating accommodation, for
the purpose of off-street parking, the carpet
area of either the auditorium or the dining
hall, which ever is higher, alone need be
taken.
(ii) For the purpose of this rules 1.5 sq.m
carpet areas shall be considered as one
seating accommodation.
100 sq,m of carpet area
100 sq.m of carpet area

200 sq.m of carpet area

200 sq.m of carpet area
200 sq.m of carpet area

SeminarsTopics.com