The airport authorities on Wednesday did not fine motorists Rs 400 for exceeding the free 10-minute window for a drop or pick-up in front of the terminal building.
Signboards that read “Fine Rs 400 beyond three minutes dwell time and seven minutes running time” have been put up along the driveways on the airport premises but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) decided to give motorists “a few days’ time” to get used to the new system, an official said.
“Dwell time” refers to how long a vehicle can remain in front of the terminal building without paying any fee and “running time” denotes the time taken to travel to and from the terminal.
AAI sources, however, said only the total time a car spent on the airport premises would be taken into account as there was no mechanism to ascertain the “dwell time” and the “running time” separately.
“The boards have been put up recently. We will give people time to understand that fines will be imposed,” an AAI official said.
Earlier, the motorists who would exceed the 10-minute window would be fined Rs 100. Along with hiking the fine amount to Rs 400, the AAI has also rejigged the parking fee from Rs 100 for two hours to Rs 40 for 30 minutes.
On Wednesday, Metro found parking attendants collecting fees according to the new structure.
A toll booth has been dedicated for cars that intend to exit the complex within 10 minutes. Another has been set up for private cars that will park on the premises and a third for commercial vehicles such as app cabs, which, too, will be parked.
Commercial vehicles belonging to rental agencies have to pay an access fee of Rs 60 before heading towards the parking lot.
App-cab aggregators Ola and Uber pay a fixed rent to the airport for their pick-up slots. Yellow taxis, too, have their designated pick-up bay.
The parking fees for coaches and buses (Rs 110 for two hours) and for two-wheelers (Rs 25 for two hours) remain unchanged.
Megha Dutta, 26, who landed in the city from Bangalore on Wednesday afternoon said her driver chose to park her vehicle in the parking lot after an attendant told him that the fee was Rs 40 for 30 minutes.
“Today, I did not have to wait for even a couple of minutes for my driver to show up. Earlier, he would park on VIP Road and take a lot of time to drive till the terminal,” Dutta said.
An airport official said marshals with hand-held printers would move around and check the time slips (mentioning the time of entry) of the cars waiting in front of the terminal building.
“They will ask drivers to go to the parking lot if they find only a few minutes of the free time are left. If a driver refuses, he will be reminded that he will be charged a fine of Rs 400 if he exceeds the 10-minute window,” the official said.
An officer of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said flyers often complained to them that attendants would slow down vehicles near the exit booths to ensure they exceeded the free-stay duration and were fined Rs 100.
An officer of the commissionerate’s traffic department said they would keep levying fines if they found any car parked on VIP Road and Jessore Road, near the entrance to the airport.
“We hope this system works and reduces the number of cars parked on VIP Road, especially during rush hours. Such cars trigger congestions. We will continue to fine cars found parked on VIP Road and Jessore Road near the airport entrance,” the officer said.
