A sensible parking policy can help decongest roads, say experts

Bengaluru

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) recently asked officials to identify and prepare a list of designated parking spaces in order to generate additional revenue. With private vehicles thronging city streets, this comes as a welcome initiative as one of the many hurdles to smooth traffic movement are vehicles that are parked on the road which reduce the space for traffic to move. Another benefit for the city is the generation of revenue when there is high spending on infrastructure projects.

For IISC professor Ashish Verma, the benefits derived from the policy will depend on where the designated parking areas are and how much the corporations charge for parking. “If it’s in congested areas then it won’t be good for the movement of traffic. If it’s integrated with the metro and bus stops, then it would be good. It is also important to see how much they charge for the parking, if it’s high then it is meant to discourage the use of private vehicles,” he said.

Professor at ISEC, Krishnaraj concurred saying, “The corporations are charged with generating revenue and this is one way they can do it. If the prices are too high for parking then people won’t park in the designated areas, so to encourage more people they should keep the cost down, maybe around Rs 10. Along with this there needs to be strong implementation of no parking zones, where people who park in places where they shouldn’t are fined when there is a designated parking zone.” Commuters too seemed to be happy upon hearing about the initiative, hoping for more parking space and safety for their vehicles.

“I think it’s a good move. I would rather pay the amount than park on the road and risk the car getting damaged or get a fine. The cost of fuel that is spent looking for a parking space would be used for paying for parking. I think well managed parking is the need of the hour,” Said Saeed, who regularly uses his car for commuting. The Karnataka government had also approved a parking policy in 2020 which emphasized on well organized paid parking and enforcement of parking regulations. This policy has not been implemented and according to Professor Verma, the government would do well to implement it.