Private Hospitals' Parking: Health Care's Debated Contribution in Traffic Congestion of Dhaka City

Abstract

Parking and Traffic Congestion can be synonymous if not handled efficiently. In the ever-growing metropolises like Dhaka, where private hospitals prevail in a greater number and act as a major traffic generator, efficient parking management is undoubtedly momentous along with its protuberant health care facilities. This paper particularly aims at investigating the existing parking setup of the major private hospitals of Dhaka city by means of parking demand-supply analysis. The overarching methodological approach adopted for this research is case study method. The required database was collected from parking space inventory and parking usage survey by patrol, conducted on both weekdays and weekend throughout a period of eight hours, each covering both the morning and evening peak periods. As a key finding, this study revealed that overall parking demand is always higher than the available supply in most of the cases. However, the unique methodological approach and outcomes of this extensive research work can act as a baseline for further research activity intending the quantification of the parking as well as traffic congestion problem in urban expanses and effectiveness of potential solutions.