BENGALURU: A parking contractor whose contract was supposed to last till July 2018, informed Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) that he couldn’t continue anymore as it was not financially tenable for him to run a paid parking business at Balagangadharanatha Swamiji Metro station (Hosahalli).The reason was Metro commuters’ non-inclination for pay for parking. But, commuters have a different problem — petrol getting stolen from their vehicles which are parked at the station, unguarded.
The licencee KCIC Pvt Ltd set up shop in July 2016 and was awarded a two-year contract for the lot that could house 160 two-wheelers. According to a Metro official, he gave up within three months.
“He informed BMRCL that there was very poor patronage at the parking lot and so he could not run the business anymore. His contract was terminated by us on October 19, 2016,” the official informed. Since then, Hosahalli, on the East-West Metro line, has joined the list of stations that lack a parking system.
Commuters park their two-wheelers at the space near the station without paying anything now. But, commuters have been complaining that petrol from their vehicles is being stolen from their vehicles.
Express spoke to a few parking their vehicles at this parking space. Vijaykumar Nagoji, a product trainer at a private firm, who commutes daily to M G Road Metro station, recalled how he learnt about the theft two weeks ago. “Whoever did it, didn’t even bother to connect the petrol tube back to the tank and left it dangling,” he said. Asked if he made use of the paid parking facility when it was introduced here, Nagoji replied in the negative. “If the charge is something like `1 or `2 per day, then I will use it. Even paying something like `10 per day is expensive,” he says.
Sandeep B K, an administrator at a Football Academy near Trinity Circle, found his bike with less petrol thrice during the last six months. “Some kind of monitoring is required for the safety of our bikes. But the charge is too high at stations where parking is available now,” he feels. BMRCL can charge us but it should be a reasonable amount, like `15 instead of the `30 being charged presently, he suggested.