Mall parking transformation – from Physical to Phygital

Founder & MD of a company bearing his name, Manoj K. Agarwal is a business consultant with more than three decades of experience in hospitality & shopping malls. In a discussion with TrafficInfraTech, Agarwal shares his views on the developments in parking strategy in malls, the challenges faced and advancements to expect in the future.

National  Earlier, there was physical security in malls. At the entry point, there was scrutiny done physically by personnel who would open and check the boot of the vehicle and run a mirror scanner below the bonnet. They would profile the passengers in the car, then allow it to pass. There would be a ticket dispenser which would cough out a ticket and the vehicle would get parked as per availability of free lots. During exit, the ticket would be given to the cashier and post payment and checking, the boom barrier would rise to let the vehicle exit. This system, particular the paid ones, was vulnerable to manipulations not from the security angle but from the fee collection one. Remedial measures including change of staff or the agency itself imposed loss of valuable time, cost and effort on the process.

In today’s malls, the ANPR technology scans the number plate along with the photograph of the driver and after reading the data, causes the boom barrier to rise automatically. The same process is repeated at the exit. Automation also reduces the siphoning or misappropriation of funds to a great extent. The only issue is when the number plate is in the vernacular in vehicles belonging to owners who have a strong ethnic affiliation, as the technology is not yet able to read these characters. To address this, malls have created a holding area where manual tickets are issued. However, these are exceptions as more than 90% of the number plates are as per the guidelines of the government. Apart from this, the system works fine.

For all the talk of AI which has been pushed down our throats by corporates, it is still nascent technology. Facial recognition on CCTV cameras is definitely happening and is growing. It will probably be the next big thing. Linking databases of malls to those of government bodies like the RTO and the police will happen. It may take some time but that is definitely the future.

– Manoj K. Agarwal

In both the old and new processes, there is an inlaid sensor loop (inductive loops which work like a metal detector as they measure the change in the field when objects pass over them) which would detect the arrival of a vehicle. Similarly at the exit, the sensor loop which is below the surface records the departure of the vehicle.

Having worked in O&M of many premises, one realises that the operations aspect, including parking, is either ignored or not given enough focus. The new team runs into challenges and trying to make-do, adapt or retrofit only increases costs and does not give the desired results. It is advisable therefore, at the design stage to keep the parking structure linear and not have dark and dead corners that pose a threat to security from activities like theft and presence of undesirable elements. It is important to have a parking area which is well-lit, visible and with a layout able to accommodate adequate number of CCTVs for optimal scanning.

From a general safety perspective, a number of malls now have a pedestrian walkway in the parking area, replete with signages so families can safely navigate from their vehicle to the mall interior without being surprised by a vehicle. For vehicles parked on roads and pavements, one cannot do much by way of providing security other than by hiring personnel to monitor them, much like for those spilling over from hotel and mall parking lots, where extra security guards are provided to ensure the vehicles are safe from pilferage and damage. In some malls, high-range cameras are installed on rooftops which have a range of up to 800 mtrs.

All well-designed malls, in order to decongest and improve security, have designated pick-up and drop-off points and separate zones outside their boundaries for autorickshaws, radio taxis and public transport.