The BBMP is collaborating with a private company that enables motorists to book parking slots from their mobile phones.
An app, called ‘Namma Bengaluru Smart Parking App’ and available for Android and iOS, helps people find the closest available slot on Google Maps.
Under the Namma Bengaluru Smart Parking system, you can book and pay physically at a meter installed on the footpath, or do it all over the phone.
Penalty Rs 500
This is a prepaid system. Users can take a ticket for an hour, and then top it off on the app, as and when needed. “You get notified five minutes before the end of the hour, so you can extend your time,” says N Satyanarayan, managing director, Central Parking System, the private company that is providing the meters and running the system.
If a car remains after the designated hour, its wheels are clamped, and the owner is slapped a fine of Rs 500. A toll-free number has to be called to free the vehicle.
On-road vs off-road
The draft Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP), prepared by the BBMP, recommends more off-street parking than on-street parking.
Based on a survey conducted at seven locations in the CBD, the draft had concluded, “On-street parking is affecting mobility with reduced road space available for the movement of traffic, and the manoeuvres of parked vehicles obstruct traffic flow, often leading to congestion.”
The plan had suggested 50 off-street parking spaces in the core areas. The smart parking system, now being introduced, directly goes against this recommendation.
“It is not easy to implement an off-road parking system in Bengaluru,” says Ashwini Lakshmiah, assistant engineer, BBMP.
“An on-street parking system exists, but it is unorganised. Take MG Road. We pay a fee to park, but who are we paying? This system of parking on the road is what people are used to. Whether you allow it or not, people will park there, so it is smarter to improve the system,” she says.
As for off-street parking, she says parking spaces have to be identified, and structures built. “All of that takes time,” she says. “But we have to deliver now.”
What’s the next step?
The BBMP has identified 85 roads, largely within the CBD area, for smart parking. These include Race Course Road, Road, Commercial Road, MG Road, Brigade Road, Kasturba Road, Residency Road, Lalbagh Road, Palace Road, District Office Road, Link Road, Millers Road, Lavelle Road, St Mark’s Road, Church Street, Chickpet Main Road and Sankey Road.
“Space has been demarcated based on need and availability. Kasturba Road, for example, doesn’t have space for two-wheelers, while St Mark’s Road provides space for both,” says Ashwini.
Why smart parking?
If parking spaces are regulated, they prevent traffic congestion on the roads, police say.
“There will be fewer people circling around looking for space,” says M Narayan,
DCP, Traffic East.
Free parking not only generates no revenue for the government but it allows people to put public space on hold, he says.
Paid parking has a history in Bengaluru. In 2006, following allegations of corruption, it was abolished. In 2011, the BBMP considered a proposal to reintroduce it. To this end, a comprehensive study was carried out, as part of the CMP.
The CBD is filled with commercial establishments, but people hesitate to visit the area because of parking constraints, says Satyanarayan.
With shopkeepers and people working in the area parking their vehicles on the streets, occupying them for the entire day, visitors have no space.
Wallet factor
The BBMP has divided the city into three parking zones: A, B and C, with A being the most expensive.
The hourly parking rates are:
Cars Two-wheelers
Zone A Rs 30 Rs 15
Zone B Rs 20 Rs 20
Zone C Rs 15 Rs 5
Where it’s on
The system is already working on 10 roads — Kasturba Road, Vittal Mallya Road, Ali Asker Road, Church Street, Cunningham Road, Church Street, MG Road, Museum Road, St Mark’s Road and Residency Road.
20-year contract
The BBMP has taken up the project under the public-private partnership model and given a 20-year contract to Central Parking System (CPS) to manage paid parking.