Traders on Brigade Road happy with metered parking

Traders on Brigade Road happy with metered parking

The Hindu

Parking meters introduced on Commercial Street as well

# Close to 3,000 cars are parked on the road at varying intervals
# Maximum time allowed cut down to one hour from two hours
# The parking fee is Rs. 5 for 30 minutes and Rs. 10 for an hour

Bangalore: A year after it came into being, most businessmen on Brigade Road are happy with the metered parking. The traffic police find it easier to control the flow of cars in this most popular shopping area. Among the shoppers, feelings are mixed, mostly on account of the restricted time allowed for parking.

On most working days, close to 3,000 cars are parked along the stretch from the junction with Mahatma Gandhi Road up to the War Memorial, at varying intervals. The maximum time allowed earlier was two hours and this has now been restricted to one hour.

The parking fee is Rs. 5 for 30 minutes and Rs. 10 for one hour. The parking attendants collect the amount, put it into the machine and hand over a ticket with the vehicle number and time, and this has to be displayed on the windshield of the vehicle. Cars without the ticket or exceeding the time limit can be towed away. A tow-away vehicle is parked strategically close by.

Brigade's Shops and Establishments Association, which funded the meters, found there was no other way parking could be regulated and give opportunities for as many people as possible to do their shopping. The shops range from those selling upmarket fashion garments to discount clothing and from computers and software to those specialising only in toys. "The metered parking and risk of getting the car towed away has not reduced the number of shoppers though may keep anxiously looking at their watches. But it has helped because more people feel they stand a chance to find a parking slot," a shopkeeper said.

The traffic police on duty on this stretch discourage cars idling on the side and do not allow double parking. "These days no driver leaves behind a vehicle unless parking fee has been paid and a receipt obtained. Compared it with the scene on Mahatma Gandhi Road after paid parking went. We have to be constantly on our toes to stop double parking and idling by the side there," a police officer said.

The success of the parking meters on Brigade Road has led to their introduction on Commercial Street as well. With parking of vehicles restricted and strictly regulated there, those who choose to be pedestrians and window-shopping there find things easier. As every shop owners knows, today's window shopper is tomorrow's purchaser.