Police to launch QR code-aided system to guide motorists to pay-and-park lots

Footpaths in the city are also being used to park cars and goods carriers, with the result that pedestrians are forced to walk along the road. | Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin The city traffic police is all set to launch a QR code-aided system to assist motorists in finding the nearest pay-and-park lot.This pilot project is being tried out on an experimental basis to prevent illegal and obstructive parking in the city, said S. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar, District Police Chief (Kochi City). By scanning the code, motorists will be guided to the nearest pay-and-park lot where parking space is available, he added.Sources in the traffic police said the QR code-based system would in all probability be launched this week at 18 locations. “It would be tried out on an experimental basis for a month, considering the increasing instances of obstructive parking and the ensuing slowing down of traffic. The phone numbers of personnel who collect parking fee at pay-and-park lots will be displayed along with the QR code.”Cars and even goods carriers are nowadays being haphazardly parked on congested roads. Footpaths too are being used to park such vehicles, with the result that pedestrians are forced to walk along the road, they said.Among different motorists, car owners are the biggest headache with regard to obstructive parking. Even worse, most such cars entering the city have a sole occupant — the owner or a driver. Once the QR code system is introduced, patrol personnel would step up rule enforcement, including towing away of vehicles of grave rule violators, the sources said.NGOs and residents’ associations have for long been complaining of how illegal and obstructive parking has been taking a heavy toll by triggering traffic snarls. “Such vehicles, including lorries carrying parcels and other cargo, are often parked even on footpaths along TD Road and other roads that lead to the Ernakulam Market. The police are duty-bound to take deterrent action, especially since the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court have repeatedly ruled that footpaths are meant exclusively for use by pedestrians,” said K.S. Dileep Kumar, president of the Ernakulam Vikasana Samithi.The traffic police are, in the meantime, also planning to launch a QR code system on an experimental basis, to rein in overspeeding and reckless driving by private buses through city roads, it is learnt. This would in effect be an upgraded version of the punching system that was available at Menaka and at a few other locales in the city till around 15 years ago for crew of buses passing by to record the time at which they crossed a particular location. Published - July 27, 2026 11:08 pm IST