BENGALURU: The Urban Development Department’s (UDD) new draft parking policy seeks to levy a fee for on-street parking in residential areas, fixed by the apex monitoring committee after consultation with respective residents’ welfare associations.
It also prohibits street-side vehicle parking within 150 metres of shopping malls, bus/railway/Metro stations, besides rejecting building plan proposals which do not provide for parking space within the residential complex.
The draft policy also has an alternative plan to charge street-side parking at a minimum of 1.5 times the premium parking fee, as fixed by the apex monitoring committee and collected by BBMP through contracts or outsourced collection agents.
The new parking policy’s draft Management and Maintenance of Parking Rules, 2018, has been prepared by the UDD for implementation in Bengaluru to tackle the severe traffic congestion on city roads.
The Directorate of Urban Land Transport has sent the policy draft to BBMP, PWD, Bengaluru Traffic Police, BDA, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited and others seeking their suggestions and objections.
These will be discussed by the apex monitoring committee headed by the Chief Secretary after the ongoing winter legislature session.
Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, UDD, told TNIE, “We have asked all government departments to send in their suggestions and will soon finalise the policy to place it before the government for approval. This policy will help city authorities manage traffic congestion.”
The draft parking policy includes plans such as management of on- and off-street parking, parking on residential streets and lanes, parking for differently-abled persons, overnight parking of transport vehicles, parking in railways stations, airport and Metro stations, parking of construction vehicles, charging facilities for electric vehicles and no-parking and penalty for overstay in authorised parking areas.
The draft parking policy suggests prohibition of parking on high-density mobility corridors — 50 metres from intersections on each arm of the road at major intersections; and 25 metres from minor intersections. It will be mandatory to get approval from BBMP for a building plan with parking space, wherein permission for parking only one car will be available for a 1,200 sqft house. The fee for approval for each additional car parking space per house will be twice that of the original parking space.
According to the policy, the BBMP will have to identify spaces for transport and heavy vehicles for overnight parking.However, parking of transport and heavy vehicles will be prohibited on roads not listed by BBMP for the purpose.
The policy will be soon placed before the government for draft notification after public response. The UDD first issued the circular to all the stakeholders in the city and conducted the meeting in May. The policy has been inspired by the parking policy in Delhi.
What the policy proposes