A car in my way

City

Vehicles fill the residential roads of Bangalore due to lack of parking spaces.

The lanes of Jayanagar are perfectly balanced with cars on the other side and houses on the other. Drivers have to readjust their rear-view mirror to park into the cramped place between parked vehicles, while residents have to keep a check on their every step.

Jaykumar, a resident of Jayanagar said, “We can’t even cross the road because the cars are parked here. The traffic has increased. It is a residential road, but it’s now filled with cars. We asked the police to put barricades. They put barricades, but after a few days, all was gone and it was back to the same situation.” The area has both commercial and residential buildings. There is no designated parking space, and the government is not doing anything about it, added Jaykumar.

However, Prema, another resident of the Jayanagar has different views. She said, “We have no problem. The shop owners and businesses park their vehicles here in the morning, and then they go away in the evening. There are businesses here, so where will they park their vehicles?”

The lanes of Jayanagar are filled with cafes, restaurants, optical shops, sweet shops, and several offices. Only a handful of them have a basic basement parking facility. For the most part of the day, the road is parked with visitors’ cars and two-wheelers.  

Vijay, traffic police officer in Jayanagar said, “There’s a problem but it is not a big one. We do everything to enforce the law. We register cases against the people who park in unauthorized places.”

Jijesh RG, a resident, and a car owner explained the problem he faces to park in government parking spaces. He said, “The government parking spaces are not maintained well at all. The number of cars are way more than the parking spaces and for some reason, some of the empty spaces are blocked. Some of the spaces are broken as well.”

Irshad Muhammed another car owner and a resident said that towing is common and happens quickly in any part of Bengaluru. This causes inconvenience to the drivers and car owners, he added.

The Revised Master Plan for Land Use—launched in 2007—planned to build multi-storey parking facilities across the city, but so far, the city has 11 parking facilities. Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) owns nine and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) owns two parking facilities in the city.

Nagesh, town planner, Town Planning Department, BBMP said, “We’re planning to build a multi-level parking facility in Jayanagar. The site hasn’t been selected yet.”

Dr. B.G. Raghavendra Prasad, joint director of town planning south zone, BBMP, explained that Bengaluru has seen a massive growth in the last five decades. The population of the city has increased as it emerged as a hub for better education and job opportunity, and the number of vehicles has increased proportionately.  However, the government still didn’t come up with a proper plan to manage it. The first master plan was launched in 2007, and the plan continued till 2015. There were limitations in implementing the parking plans.

Dr. Prasad added that to address the issue of parking, policies should encourage usage of public transport, build more parking spaces and reduce parking fees, so that car owners are encouraged to park.

Beruj Kumar Swastik, an urban designer at Urban and Landscape Design Studio, said that the mixed-use development plan should be used in any development area above one acre. If the area is primarily residential, 70 percent should be for residential usage, 20 percent should be for facilities, and 10 percent should be for commercial usage. In any area of development, whether it is residential or commercial, the primary usage will be given a priority. This will reduce the average travel time and dependency on cars.

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