An acute deficit problem: what hinders the development of parking systems in Russia?

According to the survey, which involved more than 10.5 thousand people, the factors that slow down the development of parking systems in Russia are as follows:

The cost of modern parking systems – 359 (3%)
The greed of the authorities who do not want to invest in modern parking – 3963 (37%)
Greed of motorists who do not want to pay for parking – 1271 (12%)
Insufficient need for modern parking – 128 (1%)
The total of these and many other factors – 4796 (45%)

A little more than a century has passed since the time when cars became a mass phenomenon, and the topic of parking turned into an acute problem. The possession of a parking place is often perceived as a more significant success, rather than owning the car itself these days. It would seem that the way out is simple: increasing the number of parking spaces…

But the recipe does not work. And in the 21st century, the problem of the deficit of parking spaces may be solved in a new way. After all, you can, firstly, increase the efficiency of the parking space, make sure that the largest number of cars are placed on the unit of space – and, secondly, determine the prime cost, which is more promising: to build one-level ground parking or invest in multilevel ones, albeit expensive, but with greater opportunities.

There are numerous parking systems manufacturers today. Along with the well-known brands such as Skyline Parking, MPSystem, ParkingSet, Wohr, there are smaller players on the market. However, all this diversity can be conditionally divided into two subtypes: with mechanization and without. Another distinguishing feature is the following: parking can be municipal (state) – and private (office, personal, etc.).

The classification criteria can be various: there are parking lots on the ground-level, ground-multi-level from reinforced concrete, underground one-level or multilevel, ground metal multi-level, mechanized (automated) parking complexes… Moreover, each of the types is possible to subdivide.

Above ground parking

It was they who gradually changed the cityscapes. Once an integral urban landscape with residential buildings, pharmacies, clinics, hairdressers, restaurants and other attributes of a comfortable life has gradually turned into an ocean of cars parked everywhere. The city became fragmented, the life of a man turned into a semi-stable state, where every step on the territories “controlled” by the cars may be rather dangerous.

Ground parking lots can be found everywhere. This is a single-level platform under the open sky or under the roof of a building, for example, a shopping center. With some stretch parking on the roof can also be added to this category. The territory of single-level parking lots, as a rule, is limited by marking, columns or walls of the premises. If all the parking lots are filled, it is less convenient to live in the city, and it is practically impossible to walk from one district to some other.

Looking at the old photos (20-30-ies of XX century, USA), one can already observe the foreknowledge of the upcoming disaster. At that time, the American automotive market was developing rapidly, a lot of cars appeared on the streets and even at that time several multi-level mechanized parking complexes were built!

Then there was a parking fee. The world’s first parking machine was installed in Oklahoma City (USA) on July 16, 1935. The device was mechanical, payment was made by coins.

Soon such devices spread around the world, and in Tokyo in 1959 it got to the point of absurdity: the parking machine was programmed to collect dachshund in yen (the equivalent of 2.7 cents) every 15 minutes, but it was only possible to pay a total sum for 90 minutes. And since the non-payers immediately got their cars’ wheels blocked, the office workers had to hire someone who would regularly run down to “extend” the parking…

Here is another figure that shows the importance of the problem: an average of 90% or more of the time, most of the cars are not going, and are occupying a place at a parking lot. It is no coincidence that in 1928 the “Conference of American Cities” noted: “… if we exclude talk about the weather, then we will not find another question that we would discuss so actively as the problem of parking lots.”

Now the topic of parking has become really acute in Russian cities. It is understandable: the largest megacities of Russia have reached the rates of automobilization of about 300-400 cars per 1000 inhabitants, to which the Americans came in the late 1920s, and Western Europeans in the mid-1960s.

But now in Europe, indicators are different, the mark of 500-600 cars per 1000 inhabitants is surpassed almost everywhere, and the “world record” (the USA and Australia) has long exceeded the rate of 900 cars. So, happiness in the form of free parking with such figures cannot be observed, and only because of this those cities manage to remain more or less comfortable for life.

Here are the theses, voiced by Peter Shkumatov, the coordinator of the “Blue Buckets Society” movement: “1. Paid parking is illegitimate. Paid parking lots are issued by the resolution of the Moscow government, the list is specified by the head of the department of transport. The Moscow citizens did not elect the leaders, the citywide referendum on paid parking was not conducted; 2. A car owner does not receive the expected service; the one who takes the car to the parking must be responsible for its safety – and the city does not take the responsibility; 3. Money for paid parking goes to the destruction of parking lots, they are spent on the program “My Street”  (the sidewalks are enlarged instead of the parking spaces). The money could be spent on the construction of modern mechanized parking spaces, which would increase the efficiency of space use; 4. The control system works with an unacceptable number of errors, for example the Parkon complexes have incorrect identification of violations in 5% of cases. That is, every 20th fine is incorrect; 5. Moscow car owners have not been compansated the total of 2 billion rubles for illegal fines, issued as early as 2014 (the fact was revealed by the prosecutor’s office).

Is there nothing in the world to optimize the car storage? In fact, there are various solutions, from simple and affordable to very sophisticated and expensive. After all, the goal is clear: to use the parking space as efficiently as possible, that’s why the cars with high ceilings and with devices installed on the roof  should be parked on the second and third floors. There are also tower parking lots, where the number of available parking spaces per unit area is great.

Anna Koltysheva, Sales Director of Neopark, is confident: “Life is accelerating, time is the most valuable resource. It is more profitable to install equipment and increase the number of parking spaces and stop circumnavigating the yard for 30 minutes every day, trying to find where to park. Today, car owners increasingly purchase their own compact parking equipment, in order to increase the number of parking lots by half, mainly for family use. ”

Compact mechanized parking is, in fact, the usual lift. When used in an area suitable for the placement of one car, two and even four cars can park thanks to it. There are lifts with hydraulic and electric drive, with an inclined or horizontal platform…

This type of parking is a great family option, it is designed for people who have a limited parking space and a couple of cars. It is often more profitable to buy an elevator car lift than another parking space. Compact parking does not require special construction training, it is easy to install, in addition, the design is mobile and can easily be moved to a new location. However, there is an inconvenience: to drive the car on the top, first remove the bottom one…

Rotary parking, in general, is a treasure: taking only three parking spaces, each can accommodate up to 16 cars! Such devices are easily assembled and, if necessary, are disassembled.

Tower parking complexes look like mines with an elevator in the middle. Storage cells can be placed in four sides of the mine – but there are tower parking lots with circular cross-sections, which are even more efficient. In addition, modular parkings of the tower type are often equipped with car reception and delivery areas, and this is very convenient.

According to the international classification, it is the so-called Tower Parking: multilevel structures that have a central lift of an elevator type with a one- or two-coordinate manipulator. The main advantage of a multi-level parking tower is the minimum area for one car. Therefore, parking towers are usually built in places where the cost of land is extremely high, especially in large metropolitan areas.

Parking type “puzzle” (puzzle parking) is arranged on the principle of a matrix with a free column (cell). Trays for storing cars are moved here by levels up and down and from left to right until a free cell is found. Such complexes consist of built-in modules, they are easy to place inside the building: the parking of the necessary capacity is “assembled” by docking the modules and varying the number of levels in them.

The movement of cells (car spaces) is controlled either manually or by the automated controller. This type is also “portable”, there is a possibility of taking it to a new location, but the process of moving, in this case, is much more complicated.

Shelving parking is, in fact, a set of shelves on which the cars are loaded by manipulators. The process looks fascinating!

Well, for the dessert – parking in the apartment. This is a real, but very expensive way to protect a dream car, usually elite supercars are stored like that. In Russia, there are numerous expensive cars, but imagine what the car turns into during the day of operation in Moscow in the spring, winter or autumn… Dirt is inevitable!

All of the above is still rare in Russia. They still park in the courtyards and on the streets, on the sites near the offices… Underground and ground multi-level parking, parking on the roofs are more or less common only in big cities, like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg…

In Moscow, by the way, the Capital Group company plans to build the largest parking complex in Europe: for this ob,ject the territory of the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC) “Moscow City” was chosen. Parking will have 3400 lots, its area will be 157.4 thousand square meters. This will be a 16-level parking, with shops, supermarkets and car washes on the ground floor.

… While in Russia you can still park for free, in Abu Dhabi a day of parking costs $ 55 (on indoor and underground parking in the central or business part of the city); in Oslo – $ 54.52, in Tokyo – $ 54.5 per day. The London Dachshund is $ 52.24, Moscow is on the 41st place – $24.6 per day (although before the crisis the Russian capital occupied the fourth place, the parking day in the center cost $ 61.5).

Based on materials: Drom.ru – All-Russian automobile portal

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