Returning Bengaluru’s streets to its residents

Bengaluru framed its first parking policy in 2012 followed by Parking Policy 2.0, which was approved by the Government of Karnataka in 2021. It was created with the objective to move from chaotic to organised parking, have walkable footpaths and achieve the city’s broader sustainable transport objectives. After  reviewing the draft tender (as the final one was not accessible) and the Area Parking Plan for the East Zone,  Sonal Shah,  Executive Director and Adithya Dushyanthkiol, Senior Associate at the Centre for Sustainable and Equitable Cities  give here some practical recommendations.

Bengaluru is known for its thriving information technology industry, and as the sixth most congested city in the world in 2023. It has a road network of 14,000km with 74% of the  major roads with two lanes. The public transport system includes a bus system operated by Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and an operational metro rail system of 72km with an average daily ridership of seven lakh passengers. Additional metro lines and a suburban railway system (K-Ride) are under construction. Bengaluru has also launched a program to redesign roads and intersections with Tender S.U.R.E guidelines, Namma Raste and Suraksha 75 programs. Over the last ten years, it has created streets with good quality pedestrian environments, designated parking spaces and recently safe intersections.

As Bengaluru continues to grow, it is essential for all stakeholders to work together towards successful implementation of the Parking Policy 2.0.  Creating an efficient parking management system can  contribute to a more livable city with reduced congestion, increased public transport ridership,  and improved public spaces.

Private vehicle ownership in Bengaluru has increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 10%.  This growth in vehicles, coupled with limited road space has resulted in severe traffic congestion, unmanaged parking and obstruction of footpaths and carriageway. 

 Parking Policy  2.0  mandated the preparation of Area Parking Plans (APPs). The Directorate of Urban Land Transport prepared plans in consultation with zonal task forces and submitted it to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in 2022. BBMP released tenders for managing on-street parking in all zones of the city, including the East Zone. However, it did not receive bidders due to which the implementation was stalled. In 2024, the Karnataka High Court directed BBMP to outline actions to implement the Parking Policy 2.0 based on a public interest litigation.

Update the Area Parking Plans (APP): The Parking Policy 2.0 recommends updating the APPs every three years to reflect the on-ground situation. Recent field visits revealed that there is significantly more parking demand than the number of spaces allocated on some of the major roads such as Chinmaya Mission Hospital Road and Double Road.

Parking plans should be prepared for a 5-minute walking distance around transit nodes and markets rather than individual, disconnected road stretches. Some of these in the East Zone include Halasuru, Indiranagar, and Baiyappanahalli metro-rail stations, Shivaji Nagar Bus Station, Bengaluru Cantonment and Bengaluru East railways stations, markets and others. This will support the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP)’s goal of achieving 70% of all motorized trips by public transport by 2035.

Number plate surveys are required to assess the on-street and public off-street parking demand and occupancy. Differential pricing is critical, along with demarcating parking and no-parking zones clearly to inform users and enable effective enforcement. The APPs need to be finalized after conducting consultations with residents and business owners in the zones, and increasing their awareness of the Bengaluru Parking Policy 2.0, its benefits, and that of the APP.

Physical layout, operations and enforcement plan: A physical layout plan should be mandated with delineated parking bays, no-parking locations, types of signage, location and number of CCTV cameras. It should also include detailed drawings, bill of quantities and estimated costs for incurring the civil works required for repair of footpaths and cycle tracks. An operations and enforcement plan, which includes the details of number of parking attendants and/ or wardens with rationale, handheld point of sale (POS) devices and the technology architecture. Cities such as Srinagar have mandated this to create transparency in the costs incurred by the bidder and/ or the Authority.

Avoid overprovision: The tender includes a wide range of parking management devices such as parking meters, variable messaging boards (generally used for off-street parking), CCTV cameras, floor sensors for cars and mobile phone applications. This needs to be simplified to encourage a mobile phone-based payment system such as in China. Parking attendants can issue tickets through handheld POS devices, and monitoring can be via a control centre with video streaming through CCTV cameras. Parking wardens can patrol the roads to check for illegally parked vehicles, those overstaying, and parking on footpaths or cycle tracks. This could significantly reduce costs for the bidders, while ensuring an efficient system. 

Establishing clear service levels to evaluate contractor’s performance and for customer satisfaction: These include transactions through the mobile phone application or digital point-of-sale devices, data reports submitted on a weekly basis to BBMP, zero events of unauthorized modifications of road markings or signage, and timely response to verified customer complaints.

Parking management as a core responsibility of BBMP: The BBMP Act needs to be reviewed and revised to establish a Parking Management Authority with a team of qualified planners to prepare the APP, prepare and review bids, analyse the parking data and recommend changes in the parking fees on a periodic basis. It could also undertake the responsibility of enforcing parking rules and issuing parking fines.

 

With  inputs from Srinivas Alavilli, Chetan Sodaye and Shraddha Banthia.