Parking on the road in front of one’s home has been an unofficial right for many Bengaluru residents for decades. Still, that is in the process of being changed. The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has prepared a new policy with the purpose of taking back public roads from car storage, amending the city's haphazard traffic congestion.
Core Policy: “Pay to Park Outside Your Gate”
The GBA parking policy is clear cut, but also very strict: If your vehicle isn’t parked inside your house compound or a private garage, you owe the city a fee.
At present, GBA Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao said, the city is sampling high-volume areas to figure out where parking can be officially recognized and at what price.
“People are parking on roads and in front of houses without paying any tax or rent for that space.” That land belongs to the corporation. Parking accidents and serious jams are inevitable: unregulated parking. “We are assessing these areas to see where parking is possible and what the relevant charges should be,” the Commissioner said.
Highlights of the GBA Parking Mandate
- Monthly subscription model: For street parking users, GBA is eyeing a monthly charge of maybe up to ₹3,000 per car.
- PPP Model: These parking spaces are likely to be managed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
- Designated Zones: The GBA will designate certain regions of Bengaluru where parking is permitted; parking outside these designated "Pay & Park" spots could mean heavy fines or towing.
- Mandatory New Construction Parking: The policy states that all new building permits must be accompanied by a dedicated parking space within the property layout.
Why Is This Happening Now?
Residents in Bengaluru are already experiencing a spike in the price of water and electricity, not to mention an introduced garbage cess. The GBA says such new financial strain is a twofold instrument:
- Traffic Handling: By discouraging parking on streets, GBA will remove road width for traffic to pass and this should help to alleviate the bottleneck effect for housing typologies like Indiranagar, HSR Layout and Jayanagar.
- Sources of Revenue: Like the garbage cess, the parking fee generates a regular income stream for the GBA that helps to keep roads open and develop more MLP (multi-level parking) facilities.
Public Outcry and Concerns
The draft of the policy faced swift opposition from the public. On the other hand, majority believes that traffic is a nightmare, but many also claim the ₹3,000 monthly fee, as offered, is infeasible.
“A lot of the old houses in Bengaluru were built when families did not need cars. There is literally no room within the gates. And then punishing and penalizing us for the lack of planning feels unfair,” says a Malleshwaram resident. There have been calls for a tiered fee model where rates for residential permits are much lower than for commercial areas.
When it comes to moving the GBA from the drafting stage to the realisation stage, the "Parking Fee" will be the next big flashpoint in Bengaluru's urban governance as soon as the GBA becomes law. Whether it effectively clears the streets or just creates greater middle-class "bill fatigue" has yet to be seen.
