Corporators seek action against roadside illegal parking

Slammed by residents during ward committee meetings, several corporators on Wednesday at the Council meeting demanded the Palike to crack down on illegal parking, especially in commercial areas and around metro stations.

Umesh Shetty, corporator from Govindarajanagar: “The rental bikes like Bounce have come in handy for the last-mile connectivity. But people are misusing them. ... these vehicles will be parked at underpasses and alongside the busy roads creating an obstacle for other motorists.”

Corporators from wards that have the metro connectivity collectively complained about the illegal parking around the metro stations. “Just because they need to pay for parking at the metro stations, they come to residential areas and park in front of houses. This causes inconvenience to the residents,” Padmanabha Reddy said.

Similarly, corporators from VV Puram and Shakambari Nagar ward also complained about the problem at the National College and RV Road stations.

Former mayor B N Manjunath Reddy said: “In BTM Layout, the paying guest accommodations have converted their cellar space into commercial places, forcing inhabitants to park their vehicles on the streets. You go to any road, two-wheelers will be parked on either side blocking the pedestrian movement.”

Nethra Narayana, corporator from Kaval Byrasandra said traffic police officials say they are unable to crack down on illegal parking as they do not have towing vehicles.

C A Rangaswamy, ACP (Traffic), Bengaluru Central, said: “If people come across any such illegal parking in residential areas, they can call 100. We will immediately tow it away.”

“A special meeting was also held with the representatives of Bounce and other bike rentals. We have been maintaining a separate registry for Bounce bikes and towing those vehicles. Fines are collected from the agency. Very soon we will come out with a comprehensive policy on this,” he added.

Working with authorities

Reacting to this, Anil G, Co-founder and COO of Bounce, a bike rental firm, said they were working with regulatory bodies to follow the mobility guidelines.

“We have been working with various regulatory bodies, including the Bangalore Traffic police, BBMP and the transport department, to enable and adhere to the shared mobility guidelines,” Anil said.

“At Bounce, we have in-house technology to monitor every ride and take necessary action in case of any violation. We have deployed multiple sensors on the bike and implemented geofencing, wherein a virtual perimeter demarks correct parking areas,” he said.

“We plan to introduce interactive voice response (IVR) — call triggered to the rider in case of bad parking, highlight no parking zones on the app and also invest deeply in on-ground operations,” Anil added.