UB-Idea Series: The Parking Carousel

Now this is not a new idea. The car parking carousels of all different kinds are common in Japan. Some are more sophisticated than the others but they all operate on the same principle that cars are transported as if by an elevator to a parking space on a spinning carousel to achieve maximum parking density while utilizing vertical space and by eliminating human parking. Given the amount of stress the Indian cities are going through for car parking space among other things, it is again a surprise that some adaptation of the parking carousel concept has not taken off in India. It is likely that this is because of the high capital costs and the potentially very high parking rates that will need to be collected to hasten the return on capital. A good friend of mine who did some preliminary study of these types of systems told me that it would cost around 150 rupees per day in parking charges to cover the cost of the equipment. Given that this is a lot of money in the Indian context, it is imperative that parking carousels are manufactured within India with cheap indigenous designs. Any takers?