Smart City works: Parking banned on 400 metres of Brigade Road

With Smart City works and the angle parking system choking Brigade Road, the traffic police have banned parking on a part of the city’s famed street with immediate effect.

The ban will apply to the stretch between Cauvery Emporium and Opera House junctions, and will remain in force until the Smart City roadworks are completed.

Brigade Road has several stores of apparel, sports and electronics brands, besides restaurants, hotels and watering holes.

A pay-and-park system on the left side of Bengaluru’s high street was introduced several years ago in association with the Brigade’s Shops and Establishments Association (BSEA). It was an angle parking method (where cars are parked in an angle to save space) and was meant for shoppers.

But this parking method, coupled with the ongoing Smart City roadworks, has impeded the free flow of traffic towards Hosur Road, police say, explaining the rationale behind the parking ban.

In a statement, B R Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the 400-metre-long stretch between Cauvery Emporium and Opera House junctions was only 40 feet wide.

The angle parking method affected the free flow of traffic whenever a car driver tried to park or leave. Other vehicles had to stop to facilitate this, clogging the road, Gowda said.

The pedestrianisation of Church Street on weekends compounded the problem as many visitors parked on Brigade Road and walked across, according to traffic police.

The parking ban hasn’t gone down well with traders. Stating that the traffic police didn’t consult them before imposing the ban, Sohail Yusuf of the BSEA said they had agreed to withdraw the parking facility on Saturdays and Sundays to facilitate the pedestrianisation of Church Street.

“The angle parking method wasn’t conceptualised by us (traders) but ordered by the state government. They are now saying it will obstruct the flow of traffic,” he said, adding that the parking ban will “severely impact” the businesses along Brigade Road just when things are returning to normality.

Yusuf claimed that there was no congestion on weekdays due to the parking facility.