Bengaluru's clogged roads & parking problems

BENGALURU: Inadequate parking facility is a major issue in BBMP East zone comprising Hebbal, JC Nagar, KG Halli, Pulikeshinagar, Maruthisevanagar, HBR Layout, Jeevan bhimanagar, CV Ramannagar, Shanthinagar, Domlur, Shivajinagar and Vasanthanagar. The issue is more severe in the Central Business District (CBD).
“I recently bought my favourite car but, unfortunately, I can’t bring it to work (off MG Road) as finding parking is a Herculean task. It’s more difficult than buying a vehicle,” lamented Shivani P, 26, a client servicing executive.
She’s one of the many who find parking charges on MG Road burning a hole in their pockets. “A multi-level parking on MG Road or somewhere nearby is essential. I can’t believe the authorities haven’t thought about it despite CBD being congested for years,” said Santhosh Kumar, staffer with a startup off Church Street.

While those abiding by law like Shivani and Santhosh struggle, many illegally park vehicles without taking into account traffic problems it can cause to an area already punctuated by bottlenecks. In many places, illegally parked vehicles encroach footpaths and shrink road width. In 2011, BBMP proposed 18 multi-level parking facilities, including in CBD areas. However, it later reduced the plan to six, while work is completed only in the one near Freedom Park. The multi-level facility behind the park with three floors of parking and a capacity to house 546 bikes and 556 four wheelers is ready for months, but not operational. “Work was completed last March, but we are yet to get our bills cleared from the government and it has been months,” said a staffer of the contractor at the facility.
However, it was known that BBMP has not found any takers for the Rs 80 crore, 30,906 sqm facility which was built to ease congestion.
In fact, most Metro stations like MG Road, Cubbon Park and Trinity in CBD areas too have no parking facility attached to them. In the absence of better feeder bus connectivity, many aren’t using public transport. However, BMTC’s TTMC centres like those in Shantinagar and Shivajinagar have parking facilities, but only few are utilising them since they aren’t connected by Metro.
Though government approved the Directorate of Urban Land Transport’s (DULT) ‘Parking Policy 2. 0’, implementation has been poor. DULT claims that it is identifying roads, especially in commercial areas, to launch paid parking whichwill be implemented by BBMP through private operators.
Lack of parking affects businesses too. Traders say customers avoid CBD due to inadequate parking facilities. But some believe the area should be made a no-vehicle zone like places overseas. “The weather is conducive and the pocket is beautiful and apt to make it exclusive for walking and dinning by completely banning vehicles. At present, Church Street and adjoining roads are a mess as parking is a nightmare and illegal parking makes it extremely difficult for people to drive,” Deepak Sood, a Church Street resident for 40 years, said.
In 2020, DULT did a pilot to make Church Street a no-vehicle zone on weekends. While many welcomed it, roads leading to the place were clogged with many parking vehicles and heading to the street. Also, it was poorly planned in terms of traffic management — lack of additional arrangements for public transport led to heavy traffic jams on roads connecting Church Street. Activist Srinivas Alavilli said: “Undoubtedly, the traffic situation in CBD is worse and no multi-level parking will solve this crisis as the problem is bigger.
We have to find a middle ground by permitting enough vehicles and, importantly, strengthening public transport by making a connection between Metro, buses and autorickshaws for people to commute easily without needing their cars or motorcycles. ” In 2015, BBMP had planned smart paid parking facilities at 85 roads in the CBD. Central ParkingServices (CPS), a parking management firm launched on-street paid parking only in 10 roads, including Kasturba Road, Cunningham Road, MG Road, St Marks Road, Residency Road, Vittal Mallya Road, Mallya Hospital Road, Museum Cross Road and Ali Asker Road. But not all are functional.
BBMP officials said customers visiting areas like Chickpet, Gandhinagar, BVK Iyengar Road, KG Road, Palace Road, and Seshadri Road could use the multi-level facility near Freedom Park.