Colombo drivers will feel heat of the law on parking fees

According to the new system, a driver pays the parking charge at the smart terminal by keying in the number of hours the driver intends to park a vehicle. Extensions of parking time can be made through either the mobile app (Tenaga Park Smart) or by going back to the terminal.

Colombo’s local authority and its private partner say they will ensure that drivers pay parking fees in the city limits in compliance with by- laws that have been gazetted. And drivers should not try to slip away without paying. They are likely to be tracked down.

Smart meters being installed by a private company, Tenaga Car Parks (Pvt) Ltd., under a deal to share revenue, will make fee collection more efficient, the Colombo Municipal Council believes.

Following an agreement signed a few years ago, Tenaga Car Parks gets the major share of revenue, or 60%, from parking fees and fines etc., while the Colombo Municipal Council gets 40%.

Manjula Kularathna, traffic engineer at CMC, said software and hardware are being developed to install smart metering at more than 1,500 parking spaces.

Currently, 100 solar powered smart meters, each worth over Rs 1 million, are in operation on Duplication Road, and from Galadari roundabout to Wellawatta and on some by lanes.

But there is no way to ensure that drivers actually pay, so traffic wardens have to be asked to monitor, Mr Kularathna said. In fact, many drivers prefer to pay the fee to the traffic wardens.

He said CMC receives 10 to 12 calls per day complaining about traffic wardens, mainly related to their behaviour and poor communications skills. He said many are unskilled workers.

He admits that drug addicts and underworld figures have been collecting fees.

Traffic wardens are also suspected to be plundering from the parking fees, he said.

He expects smart meters to be the answer to many of these issues.

He added that there are plans to introduce the reloading and bill paying facility, too, at the smart machines.

Rehab Ariff, director of operations at Tenaga Car Parks, said that when the by-laws are gazetted, the system would become efficient and regulated properly.

He said that the company would have invested more than Rs 300 million for the entire project once it is completed.

He said there is a severe shortage of traffic wardens, even though he claimed a salary of Rs 40,000 is offered.

According to the new system, a driver pays the parking charge at the smart terminal by keying in the number of hours the driver intends to park a vehicle. Extensions of parking time can be made through either the mobile app (Tenaga Park Smart) or by going back to the terminal. When paying the fee, the driver has to input the vehicle registration number. The app was launched in February.

Staff equipped with technical devices will be deployed at car parks to check whether the vehicles parked at the slots have paid the correct fee to the machine, by scanning the license plates. When a vehicle that had not paid the due amount is detected a citation will be pasted on the windscreen, informing about the late fees and fines.

If a vehicle leaves the car park without paying the correct charge, it will be monitored and tracked down Tenaga Carparks says.

A special vehicle will be deployed to scan the license plates of the vehicles and once the vehicle that has not paid the charge is detected, the driver or owner will be informed of the late fee.

The CMC said a charging system based on the time of the day will also be introduced where peak hour fees will he higher.

Meanwhile, the chairman of All-Island Inter-District School Children’s Transport Service Association, N. M. K . Harischandra Padmasiri, said charging late fees and fines from school vans and buses as mentioned in the gazette is not fair as school vans and buses have not been given even the basic facilities at the car parks and they have not been provided specific parking slots.

He claimed the CMC has formulated the by-laws without having any discussions with them.