Mumbai: After drawing a blank despite five extensions, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will reissue tenders for its proposed smart parking app, easing eligibility norms and revising financial terms to attract bidders, according to officials aware of the developments.
Since May last year, the civic body’s traffic department had invited bids to develop an integrated parking management system, centred on a mobile app that would allow motorists to locate and book parking slots across on-road and BMC-run parking lots in real time. The system is proposed to be supported by sensors and cameras installed at individual parking bays to display availability on the app.
Mumbai has just 37 public parking lots with space for 29,715 vehicles, even as its vehicle population crossed 5 million in early 2025, including around 1.5 million private cars, making the hunt for parking a daily struggle in the space-starved island city.
Despite this demand, the tender drew no response due to stringent eligibility criteria, officials said. For instance, bidders were required to have at least five years of experience in the parking sector and prior experience in large infrastructure projects.
“The criteria were too high, and only bigger bidders could qualify. We are now bringing down the eligibility so that more players can participate,” said a senior civic official, requesting anonymity.
The BMC has also decided to remove certain clauses, including one that required bidders to pay property tax for parking premises. Prospective bidders also indicated that the financial terms and compliance requirements made the project unviable. Contractors were particularly wary of the costs associated with installing and maintaining sensors and cameras, which they said would lead to losses, officials revealed.
The current public parking system, which relies on manual management, also left room for misuse. “In many places, we found people overcharging and parking spaces being used for garage or secondhand car showrooms,” the senior civic official said.
The proposed technology-driven system aims to plug these gaps by minimising human intervention and ensuring accountability through real-time monitoring. “Everything going online will ensure there is accountability and prevent misuse of public parking spaces, and also the maintenance cost would go down,” the official added.
Under the revised plan, fresh bids will be invited by the end of next month, with work expected to begin soon after. The new tender is also expected to encourage collaborations, as existing contractors may lack the technical expertise to execute such a system independently.
“They will have to tie up with agencies that have tried something similar earlier and IT companies to execute the project,” the official said. “The one who offers maximum profit will be awarded the tender, as we thought of it as a source of revenue.”
Once implemented, the app is expected to allow users to check nearby parking availability, book slots in advance, and park seamlessly upon arrival. The system will initially be rolled out at new locations, while existing parking spaces will be incorporated once their current contracts expire.
“The move by BMC to revisit the smart parking tender is a constructive step,” said Dr Abdul Ahad, a scholar working on parking policy. “At the same time, a balanced approach of combining technology with effective enforcement and user-friendly design will be crucial. If implemented wholeheartedly, it will improve overall urban mobility.”
He added that studies suggest nearly 30% of traffic is caused by motorists searching for parking. “Having a parking slot even before reaching the spot will help bring the traffic down by 30%,” he said.
Similar smart parking initiatives are already operational in cities such as New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai, featuring digital payments and automated guidance systems to ease congestion.
Officials said that by easing norms and restructuring the tender, the civic body hopes to revive bidder interest and push forward a long-pending project aimed at streamlining parking management across the city.