Parking Chakkar 1: MG Road, Brigade Road, Church Street

The 1.6-km-long M.G. Road allows parking on one side. The result: too little space and too many vehicles. The number of vehicles has increased, but road space remains the same.

Zara hatke: shoppers can’t stop here
M.G. ROAD, BRIGADE ROAD, CHURCH STREET, REST HOUSE ROAD...
Times of India

Bangalore: When the traffic police mooted a proposal to ban parking on the city’s arterial roads two years ago, it was hailed as the most revolutionary move. Simultaneously, another problem that dogged the department was to propose alternative parking area, and the authorities failed in this aspect.

Result: the proposal did not move an inch further.
Increasing number of vehicles and growing parking problems, sans infrastructure to keep pace with. This is the state of affairs on city roads.

Several projects were drawn up by the civic authorities concerned to decongest the city centre, including blueprints for parking lots. But nothing seems to be moving as parking as a separate issue has not been taken up seriously by the city planners.

Starting today, The Times of India will kick off a series on parking woes. Today, we take a look at the city’s shopping paradise — M.G. Road and surrounding areas.

1
Parking bottlenecks: M.G. Road — from Queen’s statue to Trinity Circle — stretches over 1.6 km, has parking on one side, all along.
Abutting MG Road is Brigade Road, a shopping street.
Two narrow bylanes, Rest House Road and Church Street, have seen unchecked, unplanned development over last five years. Church Street has more than 40 eating joints.
Business, entertainment, shopping malls, office complexes, restaurants have mushroomed, but parking lags behind.

2
What are the problems?
Too little space, too many vehicles. Number of vehicles has increased, but road space remains the same.
Basements in buildings do not have adequate space.
BCC’s pay and park scheme has not streamlined the system — contractors’ only concern is to rake in moolah, safety of vehicles not guaranteed. Besides, fake parking tickets, vehicle theft and extortion by parking attendants.
Double line parking hinders traffic movement — major culprits are government cars.

3
Projects to decongest area: Multi-storied car parkingcum-commercial complex on Magrath Road: a joint venture project of the BCC, the complex is being built on 1.56 lakh sqft where BCC workshop used to exist. The complex will accommodate 1,000 cars, with two level basements; shopping mall on ground and two upper floors; office spaces on upper floors; 11 floors for car parking, escalators and lifts for vehicles. Once completed, BCC will ban parking on adjacent roads.
Police planned to decongest Brigade Road and restore it as shoppers’ paradise: ban on traffic; only shoppers to enter street and park. Blueprint ready, but progress nil.
BCC had proposed 15-storied automated parking lot near RSI. Status: shelved. Long ago, BCC had planned to convert a portion of Parade Grounds into a parking lot. Proposal died silently.

4
What people have to say: Provide parking in basements in buildings to take care of visitors.
Come down heavily on violators for using basements for purposes other than parking.
Be strict while issuing fresh trade licences to ensure buildings make way for parking.

5
Solutions: Short-term: Provide automated parking lots. Example: Brigade Road - after traders here introduced automated system, parking is less burdensome. New system envisages high parking fee with limited parking duration.
Long-term: Build multi-storied parking complexes to take care of future parking demands. Implement project on joint venture basis as area does not have government lands.

EXPERT OPINION

Prof M.N. Sreehari, traffic expert.
• Off-street parking in Parade Grounds, ban traffic within 2-km radius of MG Road.
• Multi-storied parking system.