The Indian Express 20.11.2013
BMC plans to hike charges at popular parking lots by 300%
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to increase
the cost of parking by a whopping 300 per cent in the most popular
areas of the city.
Dividing the city into three zones, the civic administration has
proposed a Rs 60 per hour charge for parking lots in “most popular”
areas such as Fort, Nariman Point, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Colaba
among others. The existing parking fee for such lots is Rs 20 per hour.
According to civic data, there are about 62 such parking lots in the
city.
The area-based rating will mean a lesser hike for the least
popular areas and higher for more popular ones, said officials. For
example, parking lots in Kandivali’s Charkop or Chembur’s Shopper Stop
will see a hike of 33 per cent in their parking charges, while those
such as Regal or Lion Gate will see a 200 per cent rise to Rs 40 per
hour.
The increase in the parking charges has been proposed for the
next two years, after which the charges will be increased by 10 per cent
every two years.
At present, there are 92 pay-and-park lots, of which 47 are in
south Mumbai. In category A, the most populous lots include parking
plots which are close to railway stations and markets such as Crawford
Market, Churchgate and Lower Parel. Areas such as Prabhadevi and
Siddhivinayak will see a two-fold hike under category B.
While the 92 public parking lots in the city can only accommodate
10,314 vehicles, the BMC has cleared 32 public parking proposals under
the parking floor space index policy to create space for about 30,000
vehicles. The proposed policy, which has been submitted to the
improvement committee, will come up for discussion next week.
The new policy has also suggested more parking charges from truck
owners, private cars; on-duty taxis will be charged lesser in
comparison to private cars. Charges will also differ for peak and
non-peak hours, with a lesser amount levied on holidays.
“The policy is aimed at reducing traffic in congested areas and
encouraging people to use public transport,” said Ram Barot, improvement
committee chairman and BJP corporator. In a bid to ease congestion near
schools and colleges, the policy has also proposed to remove parking
lots located within 100 m of such institutions.
The BMC has also planned to give parking permits to residents to
park their cars on one side of the road. These residents will be given
annual parking permits for these roads with no other car being allowed
to park at these spots.