New parking rates from June

Come June, Delhi motorists may think twice before using parking lots as the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) approved new parking fees on Wednesday, which are exponentially higher than the existing rates.

According to the new rates of the council chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, a car owner using an authorised parking lot in areas like Connaught Place, Sarojini Nagar and Khan Market will have to pay Rs 20 instead of Rs 10 for the first hour.
The fee will increase exponentially depending on the duration of parking at the authorised surface parkings of the civic body.

According to the new fee structure, the parking fee will be Rs 20 for one hour, Rs 40 for two hours, Rs 60 for three hours, Rs 80 for four hours and Rs 100 for five hours and above.
The maximum charge has been fixed at Rs 100. The parking fee for two-wheelers will be half the charge fixed for cars across time slots.

NDMC officials said the new rates are likely to come into effect from June. “The licence of the current contractors operating parking lots was extended till May. Now, tenders for the parking lots will be renewed. The new rates will be implemented from June,” said NDMC spokesperson A K Mishra.

The new rates were based on a study to understand parking pattern in certain areas. According to the study, 67 per cent vehicles were parked for less than two hours. For this group, the hike in parking charges was 300 per cent.

The Council has been trying to increase surface parking rates based on recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed Bhure Lal Committee, which is part of the Delhi High Court-appointed special task force to revaluate parking rates.

One of the reasons behind hiking surface parking rates was to promote multi-level car parking space around the city.