Roads that have been dug up in the Central Business District (CBD) for developmental work are proving to be a hurdle for the ambitious ‘smart parking’ project. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had planned to put in place automated parking facilities on at least 30 roads in the CBD by May this year. However, since December 2019, it has been rolled out on only 10 major roads in the area.
The civic body has plans to implement the automated parking on as many as 85 roads in the city. Once the system is in place at all locations, there will be 4,000 parking slots for cars and 10,000 slots for two-wheelers. This is an attempt to solve traffic congestion in the city, which is compounded by illegal parking.
The ‘smart parking’ project is being implemented through a public-private partnership model, for which the BBMP has entered into a 20-year tender with city-based Central Parking System (CPS). Civic officials said they are expecting to earn ₹31 crore a year by implementing smart parking on 85 roads in the city.
The roads have been categorised into three zones and rates on hourly basis have been fixed for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
Senior officials in the BBMP’s Department of Major Roads, which is overseeing the implementation of the project, told The Hindu that the civic body was waiting for the development works on these roads, including Infantry Road, Queen’s Road, Hospital Road in Shivaji Nagar, Lavelle Road, to be completed.
To ensure more time is not lost, the BBMP has handed over 30 other roads to the contractor. The project has been taken up in three phases. Under the first phase, the automated parking facility is in place on 10 roads. An app – Namma Bengaluru Smart Parking app – has also been launched, which will help look for vacant parking places, make payments for parking using online payment gateways.
“In all likelihood, the automated parking facility on these 30 roads will be in place by November this year,” an official said.
Parking fees
The erstwhile city corporation had abolished parking fees in 2006 following several allegations of corruption.
The civic body proposed to introduce a parking fee once again in 2011.
The new Parking Policy 2.0 was recently approved by the Urban Development Department, making free parking in the city a thing of the past.
