Professor Jaina Mehta and Vidit Ghelani's startup 'Parkin' is selected by GUSEC for funding

PARKIN is a mobile application, built with the aim to make parking a fret free matter for the residents of Ahmedabad. It is available on both Android and iOS platforms.

The city of Ahmedabad has grown at a rapid pace and so has its parking issues. Alarmingly, fines being levied, vehicles being towed away and chaotic traffic scenes are quite common since the information available in the public domain about parking spaces at various locations within the city is limited and unorganised. These daily frustrations for finding the right parking spot led to the idea for the development of PARKIN.

PARKIN wishes to (1) Provide easily accessible information about parking spots across the city, (2) Limit the towing away of vehicles and levying of fines (3) Create awareness about benefits of proper parking. All in all, create a smoother parking experience.

The ‘mind’ and ‘body’ of PARKIN are Data Collection and the mobile application respectively. PARKIN has built a vast database of available parking spots and these have been collated on the map of the city. We call these data points “Park-Pins”. This database of Park-Pins includes AMC owned as well as privately owned parking spots across the city. Using the app involves a few simple steps, where one searches for a destination, clicks on a suitable Park-Pin and locates the parking spot. To put it succinctly: “Search. Click. Park”

PARKIN also provides related information such as availability of valet services, nature of the parking (paid or free), proximity of Park-Pin from destination, Google maps navigation from location to Park-Pin, filters by type of vehicle (2W/ 3W/ 4W), distance filters, tow-away zones and actual photos of the parking facilities. The app also has features such as addition of Park-pins by the users (moderated), option for users to add notes to the Park-Pins, option of integrating a point-based user reward system etc.

It is our right to expect and civic duty to ensure that the public spaces of the city are maintained in an organized and efficient manner. Parking legitimately and encouraging others to do the same could be of big help in making that happen.

PARKIN has been founded and co-founded by Jaina Mehta, Lecturer, Ahmedabad University and Vidit Ghelani, Laboratory Associate, School of Engineering and Applied Science. The start-up idea was recently shortlisted in herSTART 2021 and also featured in Divya Bhaskar. A copy of the article is annexed. The app download links can be found at our website. If you would like to know more about the app or provide feedback, please drop a line at jaina.mehta@ahduni.edu.in or vidit.ghelani@ahduni.edu.in.