Parking in Bangalore: It's hell out there on weekends

BANGALORE: What they hoped to be a romantic evening turned out to be a nightmare for techie couple KC Bojanna and Shruthi, when they headed for Church Street to celebrate their wedding anniversary on Saturday.
After driving all the way from Bannerghatta Road, they ended up spending most of the time looking for parking space. After driving around the area for a long time, they finally parked their vehicle in a “no parking zone” at the Museum RoadChurch Street junction.
Their ordeal didn’t end there.
When they returned from dinner, they noticed that traffic police had clamped the wheel with a lock. Only after paying fine, they were allowed to take the vehicle.
“By the time we returned home it was 1.30am. That day we resolved not to visit Church Street again,” the couple said.
Parking on Church Street-Museum Road junction — several popular restaurants and pubs are located in the area — has become a nightmare, especially during weekends.
Vehicular movement is reduced to a crawl early evening as diners, shoppers and office workers jostle for parking space. The scramble for parking space worsens as evening wears on.
Cars and SUVs line both sides of the road making it a free for all.
“It's impossible to park vehicles here. There is just not enough space. Nowadays, I drop my wife and children and keep driving round till I find a space and later join them for dinner. There's no other way. I don’t understand the logic behind traffic police making one way without any imagination,” say KV Satish, a general medical practitioner at R T Nagar.
Some restaurants here allow only their customers to park their vehicles there. Some of them even offer valet parking, an euphemism for ensuring that parking space is reserved for their customers using ‘dummy vehicles’. Shravan kumar, from Malleswaram who frequently visits Church Street, says: “Instead of creating space for public, traffic police end up creating more nuisance by imposing illogical one-ways and parking restrictions. They only keep harassing motorists by issuing tickets at will.”
Other trouble spots
Indiranagar
One of the most sought after shopping hubs is 100 Feet Road. The number of shops and restaurants here has increased and so has the number of visitors.
The side roads in this locality are choked with vehicles parked on both sides during weekends. Ramesh T, a bank executive, said: “You can see more than 50 cars in the early evening but between 7pm and 11pm, the area is packed with cars. We have to pay a big sum for a slot at the private car-park close by as there's no other option.”
Jayanagar
Traffic snarls are common in front of commercial complexes in Jayanagar IV block as vehicles jostle for precious parking space on streets. But traffic police appear to have turned a blind eye to the problem.
Even the BDA Complex seems to have inadequate parking space, so vehicles remain parked on the roadside. Besides, it is difficult to cross the road here between 5 pm and 8 pm because of heavy traffic. “It has many shopping centres. But police have failed to manage traffic,” says Seema Joshi, a resident of Byrasandra, Jayanagar.
Koramangala
It's the same scene on 8th Main and 16th Main of Koramangala. There is no parking place on the main roads, so vehicles are parked on both sides of the stretch, blocking the right of way. Aravind and his wife said they often wait for hours for a car to pull out so they can park their vehicle opposite the BDA Complex. “This is a ritual every time we come here. We take turns to wait in the car till someone pulls out. Sometimes it can take up to one hour before we find space for parking,” they complain.
TIMES VIEW
Instead of being a pleasurable evening, shopping or dining in the heart of city during weekends has become an ordeal for Bangaloreans. With popular areas lacking enough parking space, motorists' biggest challenge is where to park their vehicles. With one-ways and haphazard parking all around, reaching the venue and coming out from there themselves are big challenges.
A metropolis like Bangalore deserves better, especially if the city wants to attract more tourists and help its citizens enjoy nightlife. Civic authorities and traffic police should make provisions for more parking lots in busy commercial areas and ensure that bottlenecks don't end up discouraging people from visiting such hot spots.