Automated parking system a hit

HYDERABAD: The automated parking system (APS) may not operate by the two magical words, Open Sesame. But this efficient system has magically altered the parking landscape, bringing order into the impossible traffic here.

Introduced two months ago in the Secunderabad station, the system has a ticket dispenser which sensors vehicles coming in the front and the Bhoiguda side of the station. As the driver approaches the dispenser, an automated voice tells the driver to push a button and take the ticket. Until the driver gets the ticket, the barrier remains closed after which it swings open.

"Earlier, everything used to be haphazard, the man in charge of parking had to check when drivers would come in and when they headed out. Under the new system, we can keep track of the exact time the vehicle comes in and the time of exit as these timings are recorded in the ticket," said Arun Prasad, Service Engineer of Urbane Auto Park.

Under the old system, some persons would not pay the fare, some would just keep the vehicle for days together and claim to have kept it for only one day, and some others would lose the token, says one of the security guards here.

Organised system

Also, removing vehicles was difficult because cars and bikes were parked higgledy-piggledy with no sense of what should be parked where.

"Now, we have parking slots for cars, an organised parking lot for bikes and clear signposts giving directions. Parking cars is much more simplified now, thanks to the whole system," he adds.

The effect can be seen best in the front portion where heavy traffic used to delay parking and cause the passenger needless worry, says Sangeeta who was seeing her daughter off to Chennai. "It's convenient for me to park my vehicle here and catch an MMTS to Hi-Tec City", says Prasad who works there.