Just 85 parking slots. Yet, on an average, more than 1,400 vehicles park in them every day. This is success story of the automated parking system on Brigade Road.
Suhail Yusuf, secretary of the Brigades’ Shops and Establishments’ Association, told The Hindu automated parking was introduced in June 2004. The system helps segregate long-term and short-term parking. Vehicles can be parked here for a maximum of two hours only. Motorists pay Rs. 10 for an hour and Rs. 20 for two hours. Vehicles parked for longer than two hours are towed away by the Ashok Nagar Traffic police, who release them only after collecting a fine.
Mr. Seth said each year, the association pays Rs. 27 lakh to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from the revenue it gets from the eight parking meters on the road. He claimed the association was incurring a loss of Rs. 3 lakh a year and spends Rs. 4.5 lakh a year on maintaining the meters imported from France.
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“We don’t mind incurring a loss. We don’t want the parking system to be handled by any mafia.”
He said of the 10 meters installed on Commercial Street, which also has automated parking system, six are now defunct.