Megha Suri,TNN With over 18 lakh private vehicles and parking space to accommodate barely 25,000, the Capital is reeling under a severe parking crisis. A recent survey by RITES has revealed that Vishwavidyalaya Metro station, Old Delhi Railway station, Karol Bagh and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg to have the most congested parking lots in the city. Even as the government is planning over 100 new parking lots and 25 multi-level parkings too to tide over the shortage of space, the survey found that the existing parking lots are bursting at their seams. At almost all the surveyed lots, including in areas like Connaught Place where the parking rates are very high, the vehicular demand is far exceeding the available space. The most congested are parkings located at Old Delhi Railway Station where over 11 vehicles fight for each available slot, followed by Vishvavidyalaya Metro station with about the same demand, Karol Bagh, Janakpuri district centre and Kanhaiya Nagar Metro station. Office areas like Nehru Place and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, and markets like South Extention and Vikas Marg too need immediate solutions. "Parking demand is very high and it outstrips parking supply at most locations. At some places, the parking spills out of the designated area. This indicates lack of adequate parking spaces and that the spaces are organised in a disorderly manner," the survey report observes. The survey, which is part of Transport Demand Forecast Study and Development of an Integrated Road cum Multi-modal Public Transport Network for NCT of Delhi carried out for Delhi government by RITES, analysed parking data for 100 off and on-street locations for 12-hour durations. The selected parking lots were chosen at varied places, like metro stations, shopping areas, work centres, Lajpat Rai Market and Town Hall in the walled city and government offices. As over 950 new vehicles are being added to Delhi roads everyday, the problem is only going to get more acute in the days to come with cheaper car models being introduced too. The government's policies of hiking parking rates and creating multi-level parking lots, experts feel, are such temporary measures as the added parking space will soon get filled up too. The solution, then, is in dissuading people from taking out private cars for short distance trips by providing them more efficient alternatives. As Dr S Gangopadhyay, head of traffic and transportation, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) puts it: "The problem of lack of parking space is turning out to be a major issue in Delhi, especially in the light of the increasing vehicular population. Plans of constructing multi-level and underground parking spaces are all okay, but they are only a part of the solution." The government, he added, needs to promote intermediary public transport (IPT) modes such as autos and taxis. "By doing this, they can reduce travel by cars and automatically, problems of parking will also get sorted," Dr Gangopadhyay added. The trend, according to the RITES report, is to park for short durations, and except for metro stations, it was found that Delhiites generally park their vehicles for less than four hour duration. This is a clear reflection of the fact that wherever people are given an alternative, they are ready to leave their cars and switch to public transport. But the mode needs to be safe, comfortable, reliable and affordable. The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) had also recently proposed construction of multi-level parking lots near Delhi Metro stations and bus stops so that they can be integrated with the multi-modal transport systems coming up in the city. At present, the city has about 373 operational parking lots under MCD and NDMC, and about 50 more which are managed by Delhi Metro. megha.suri@timesgroup.c