PARKING VOLUME ANALYSIS AT MAJOR TRANSPORT HUBS IN RAICHUR CITY: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY

Parking congestion is a critical challenge in developing urban centers where vehicular growth outpaces infrastructure expansion. Raichur City, Karnataka, experiences significant parking pressure around its major public transport hubs—Raichur Railway Station and KSRTC Bus Stand—resulting in reduced roadway capacity, safety hazards, and inefficient traffic flow. This study investigates parking characteristics at these two locations through a 3-day, 3-hour peak-period survey following IRC SP:12–2015 guidelines. Core parameters analyzed include parking volume, accumulation, occupancy, duration, and turnover. Findings reveal distinct behavioral patterns: the Bus Stand operates as a short-duration, high-turnover facility (average stay ≈31.2 minutes), whereas the Railway Station is dominated by long-stay users (average stay ≈137.2 minutes), causing extensive bay saturation and spillover. Estimated occupancy exceeded 120% at the Bus Stand and 370% at the Railway Station for the 30-bay sample. The study highlights the urgent need for structured bay marking, enforcement strategies, intelligent parking systems, and long-term infrastructure expansion such as multi-level parking. The work contributes to filling a research gap for parking studies in Tier-3 Indian cities and provides evidence-based recommendations for sustainable mobility planning.