STOP!

STOP!
Finding parking in the city’s central areas is virtually a treasure hunt. It’s time parking became a top priority for civic authorities, report Prathima Nandakumar and R Jayaprakash


Ashmit Raj drives daily to his office on Church Street from Jayanagar. He parks his car in Cubbon Park and walks to his office.
Praveen Shetty leaves for work much before the peak hour as early birds stand a good chance of getting parking space on Cunningham Road.
Sumitha Prashanth loves to drive her car, but prefers to take an autorickshaw if she has to go shopping on MG Road.
Strange but true — thanks to shrinking open spaces, rampant basement violations and ambitious proposals for parking lots that never took off.
With over 600 new vehicles being registered every day to the existing 31 lakh vehicles in the city, the parking crisis is only getting worse. Given basement encroachment, failure of joint ventures, continuing debate on paid parking and most solutions not materialising, the situation is going from bad to worse. There’s a glimmer of hope though — the BBMP has come up with new proposals — parking on stormwater drains and below playgrounds, and on-street or off-road parking facilities on arterial roads.
And, of course, the BBMP is strongly rooting for the public-private participation (PPP) model.
PPP model
This year, BBMP announced property tax exemption to private entrepreneurs willing to develop temporary parking lots on their vacant plots. However, the proposal is awaiting government approval.
“We are looking at surface parking as multi-level projects involve huge funds and we can do it only with private participation on a buildoperate-transfer (BOT) basis. We want to open up some of our BBMPowned land for these projects,’’ explained BBMP commissioner K Jairaj.
EXPERTSPEAK
Ban on-street parking along arterial roads Conduct a comprehensive parking survey Encourage and enforce basement parking Create off-street parking lots in critical locations Build medium-sized, multi-level parking at CBDs
PROPOSALS GALORE
Five new parking complexes planned at Modern Workshop (City Shed), Broadway Road (Shivajinagar), Malleswaram Market, Lakkasandra and Seshadripuram. Status: Still on paper Commercial complexes under joint-ventures planned in various areas — Bakshi Garden, Davis Road, Gandhi Bazar, Hombe Gowda Nagar, Kittur Rani Chennama Circle (Padmanabhanagar), Pottery Town, Airport Road (Kodihalli), Seshadripuram, and Yediyur New Market.
STATUS: NO WORK YET
Three major multi-storey car parking complexes started in 2004. JC Road for 400 cars at a cost of Rs 6 crore KG Road for 400 cars at a cost of Rs 9 crore Magrath Road with ground plus four floors at a cost of Rs 40 crore.
STATUS: COMMISSIONED
Parking complexes at Jayanagar VI Block with BMTC
STATUS: UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Parking complex at Gandhinagar and Dickenson Road- Dispensary Road Junction to accommodate 200 cars each. Status: Expression of interest called. Hunt for parking space near MG Road, Commercial Street, Anand Rao Circle, and Residency Road continues.
STATUS: NO PROGRESS BBMP PROPOSALS
Automated parking on 30 arterial roads
At least 30 roads have been identified. BBMP is again looking at PPP as installation cost is high.
Private entrepreneurship
Vacant slots — A vacant plot in Gandhinagar will soon be transformed into a good business proposition by an entrepreneur. He will get property tax exemption apart from setting up public parking on his vacant site. But sops will be announced only after government approval. “Sharing of open spaces in commercial hubs is happening informally. By offering incentives, we want to attract more players to help us ease traffic congestion arising out of haphazard parking,’’ said special commissioner Gaurav Gupta.
PARKING ON STORMWATER DRAIN
A parking lot is being built on the stormwater drain in Ulsoor. While the plan is to decongest Commercial Street, Dickenson Road and surrounding shopping areas, the parking lot could help beautify the stretch as the open drain will be covered with a slab. As part of the initiative, mooted by traders and BBMP, shoppers will be ferried from the parking lot to the shopping area.
OFF-ROAD PARKING
Off-road parking will take parked vehicles off the roads but the hitch is to manage pavement and entry-exit to adjoining buildings and allotting authorised parking attendants to man the lot. “We’ve zeroed in on six locations, apart from Koramangala and Ulsoor. At Koramangala, we have created a parking lot under a high tension wire which is normally not used by anyone,” said Jairaj.
Basement violations
Major culprits are tall buildings that use basements for non-parking purposes. While building by-laws insist on earmarking cellars and basements for parking, instead there are shops, parlours, garages, coaching classes and godowns. The fallout is vehicles pile-up on footpaths and main roads, obstructing movement of traffic and pedestrians. Experts fear that on-street parking could be a menace here to stay. “Not all roads can have on-street parking as it reduces road space, causes traffic menace and endangers lives of pedestrians,’’ explained special commissioner Gaurav Gupta. However, more than 50 per cent of building basements are being misused, which leaves little choice for authorities to ban on-street parking. A 1984 high court order called for all cellars to be converted into parking lots. This was followed by BBMP making a separate parking clause in its building by-law in 2003, which insisted on compulsory use of basements or stilts for parking.
A crackdown on basement violations by a special squad constituted by the BBMP submitted a report on the extent of violations in some areas. “We cleared basement encroachments in some areas. But we need to revive the drive,’’ said senior BBMP officials.
Pay and park... but where?
Another effort is to reintroduce paid parking system. While the traffic department had recommended the BBMP introduce the scheme on 150 roads, the BBMP has chosen 30 roads.
“The arterial roads passing through central business districts will be given priority. However, I believe that on-street parking is a luxury as we spend crores on developing a stretch of a road,’’ said BBMP commissioner K Jairaj. Last year, BBMP scrapped the pay-and-park system as motorists were being fleeced. But the problem of parking continues as open spaces are fast disappearing.