Parking Demand and Supply Analysis of Major Shopping Centers in Dhaka – A Case Study of New Market Shopping Center along Mirpur Road

Abstract

In Dhaka, a rapidly urbanizing mega city, different private car friendly policies and infrastructure development encourage more people to own and use private. This large number of cars require huge parking space. On-street car parking is now creating severe transportation problems in major roads of Dhaka city, like Mirpur road, which is lined with numerous office and commercial spaces and shopping centers. This paper aims to explicate the parking scenario of the major shopping centers of Dhaka through analyzing the parking and demand supply of New Market, which is a very popular shopping center of this city. The study tried to explore the possibilities of moderating the present parking problems of this market, for which a site-specific study was conducted rather than a city-or nation-wide determination of parking characteristics. Required data has been collected from two parking surveys – parking space inventory and parking usage survey by patrol, conducted on two separate working days each covering five hour periods. The study found that the average duration of parking in New Market area is around 45 minutes and a considerable portion of cars occupy the parking area up to 3 to 5 hours which lessens parking turnover. Through analyzing the parking demand and supply of a prominent shopping center of Dhaka city, this study invokes parking characteristics which is a common feature observed in other shopping centers or even in other land uses. Therefore, the findings can be used to provide targeted solutions by addressing specific problems in the parking tendencies.

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, Vol. 6, Dec 2013, pp. 161-172