BANGALURU : Bowing to public demand, Namma Metro will soon be introducing paid parking in the seven Metro stations of Sriramapura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Soap Factory, Yeswantpur, Peenya, Jalahalli and Nagasandra.
These stations figure in the Reach-3, 3A and 3B sections of Metro of the North-South Corridor.
“There has been a clamour for parking in Metro stations. Tenders have been called for now and the deadline for applications is January 11, 2016. The tenders will open on the same day,” U A Vasant Rao, General Manager (Finance), Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) told Express.
Baiyappanahalli is presently the only Metro station to have a functioning paid parking system as of now. “Paid parking was introduced at the S V Road Metro station but it did not work out very well. We plan to reintroduce it there as well as in Ulsoor Metro station later,” he said.
50,000 Footfalls Daily A long stretch of this section has been thrown open now and nearly 50,000 footfalls are witnessed here daily. When the entire East-West Corridor is ready, the passenger traffic on Metro along this stretch will soar and there will be a huge demand for parking, Rao added.
The parking facility will be open during Metro train timings, which run on the extended timings of 5 am to 11 pm along this segment alone to help factory workers.
On the financial feasibility of the parking venture, Rao said, “We are looking at it more as a public amenity and not as a profit-making venture.” Taxis and cabs will not be allowed to park here, but school buses will be permitted.
There are no stringent criteria barring the fact that the bidder needs to have a minimum net worth of Rs25 lakh to bid for one parking lot.
To Bid For All Lots
If a contractor wants to bid for all the seven stations, then the net worth must be a total of Rs1.75 lakh. The annual licence fee that needs to be paid by the contractor to Metro ranges between Rs2 lakh and Rs12 lakh, according to the tender document.
Prior experience in managing parking lots is not mandatory.
Bid Open to all Sections “We have thrown it open to all sections that want to make a bid, including self-help groups, provided the net worth criteria can be met,” General Manager Rao said.
The parking contractor has to mandatorily issue computerised parking tickets at the time of entry and exit.