Soon, give a pass to parking fee

BANGALORE: Paying on hourly basis to park vehicles on roads will soon be a thing of past. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) plans to issue pass card, through its new initiative, parking bylaws.While other Metropolitan cities: Hyderabad and Chennai have their own parking bylaws, BBMP’s new bylaw will be the first among city corporations in Karnataka. C K Ramamurthy, chairman, Standing Committee (Town Planning), says Bangalore’s population is close to one-crore and there are around 40 lakh vehicles, including two and four wheelers and this system is city’s need of hour. “Though there are 4 million vehicles, each vehicle runs on road 400 hours (approx) per  year. Which means most of the time they are parked, including on roads,” he said. Explaining further, Ramamurthy said, “To streamline parking mafia in city, the Palike has proposed parking bylaws, which includes re-introduction of parking fee.”  Palike is now in the process of identifying roads to adopt the new system. “We are also planning on introducing monthly passes to vehicle users, which allows them to park vehicles on any street in Bangalore. Passes will be issued by the Palike. Commuters can avoid paying money to people who collect money illegally,” he said.Special parking facilitiesRamamurthy said they were also including special parking facilities for vehicles used by physically challenged people. Further, he added they will also reserve space for bicycles and mini goods carrier vehicles.At present, Palike is planning to consult Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). “The Standing Committee for Town Planning has approved the bylaw. We will place this proposal in the next BBMP council meeting for approval.”