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If you frequently choose to ride your bike in Mumbai and are usually faced with parking trouble, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC's) smart parking project is just what you need to know more about.

The civic-body governing BMC is about to appoint a consultant for their parking project aimed at creating a unified digital parking system for Mumbai, citing The Indian Express report.

A mobile app, and a web portal would allow users to check real-time parking availability and book spots in advance.

The smart parking ideation has taken place back in 2020, however, it did not move ahead beyond the proposed stage. According to media reports, the BMC on April 1 had placed a proposal before the standing committee to learn the  agency responsible for developing the system

The initial allocation for this parking project is Rs 3 crore.

Mumbai, a city with a population exceeding 22 million, has grappled with the problem of rising vehicles and overburdened parking spaces.

Further, the report noted that the financial capital of India has the biggest vehicle density among the metro cities in the South Asian country with approximately 2,300 vehicles per kilometre. In. 2019, it was nearly 1,840 per kilometre.

As per the Transport department's record, above 3 lakh vehicles were registered in Mumbai last year, as against 2.8 lakh registrations in the year-ago period.

As of now, the BMC manages 26 off-street parking stations across the city of Mumbai.

Under the smart parking plan, Mumbai's civic body plans to combine municipal parking spaces with privately operated facilities located in malls, business centres and commercial buildings.

On the other hand, housing societies might be directed to temporarily make unused parking slots available for public use during daytime hours.

The smart parking platform is expected to be developed over the next year with a trial run planned in five civic wards covering south Mumbai, eastern suburbs and western suburbs.