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Shopper's Delight: Park In A Mall, Get A Discount In Kolkata

By Shashank, Section Mall Culture in Kolkata
Posted on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 02:22:44 AM EST

City motorists do not mind paying a hefty parking fee if the facilities and services are good enough. You only have to take a peek into the parking lots of malls and multiplexes to realize this. Now, some malls are going a step further and giving discounts on parking tickets to encourage motorists against clogging the roads around the complex.

Though the fee at malls is almost three times that levied by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) at parking lots in the city, car parks at malls remain chock-a-block.

The parking space at the basement of Forum and its periphery can accommodate 220 cars at a time. On an average, there are 550 cars on weekdays and 750 on weekends. The parking charges are Rs 20 on weekdays and Rs 30 on the weekends. "We did not charge any parking fee in the initial one and half years. But people from the neighbourhood started parking their own vehicles here. That is when we decided to introduce the parking fee," said Forum general manager Ujjal.

Kush Agrawal of 22 Camac Street cites the same reason for introducing parking fee. The complex can accommodate 400 cars at a time and the charges are Rs 20 per hour.

City Centre that has one of the biggest spaces for car parking in the city with 150 cars within its own compound and 650 outside. Though the initial parking fee was very nominal here (Rs 10 per hour) with no charges for the first hour, the mall recently revised the charges. The current fee is Rs 20 for two hours and Rs 10 for each subsequent hour. There is no charge for the first 10 minutes. The KMDA-run parking space nearby charges Rs 10 for two hours with Rs 10 for each following hour.

Mani Square, slated to open on April 20, has parking space for 1,500 cars at one ago, the biggest capacity in any city mall. South City the biggest and the latest mall is also the first to introduce multi-level car parking facility. It charges Rs 10 per hour.

Retail giant Shoppers Stop, however, has a novel take on parking it reimburses the parking fees of its customers. The charges are deducted from the customer's bill. Some other malls plan to implement this idea.

Forum is also on the way of expanding its car parking space. The annexe building Courtyard, scheduled to open in January next year, will have fivelevel parking lot than can take in 550 cars at one go. Once that starts functioning, no car will be allowed to park on the periphery.

Source:The Times Of India,11-04-08

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