Hindustan Times 05.11.2009
City to get exclusive public transport zones
The state government seems to be giving top priority to decongesting city roads through optimum utilisation of parking projects.
It has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to explore the idea of declaring certain zones as public transport zones and accommodating public transport vehicles in its proposed car parking projects. It has also asked the civic body for deriving connection modes to nearest transport points like railway stations.
In a letter sent to the municipal commissioner on Wednesday, the state Urban Development Department has said a committee headed by the commissioner, which finalises the parking projects that will come up in the city, should evaluate the ground situation and submit a report by November 30.
All transport authorities in the city, including the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking and Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority are represented in the committee.
This will be applicable for all 19 parking projects that have been cleared — 12 private parking proposals approved the state and seven underground car parks being developed by the BMC — and 67 cases that are under scrutiny.
“We received the parking master plan from the BMC and have written back to them to work on these aspects simultaneously so that no parking plan remains underutilised,” said Principal Secretary, Urban Development, T.C. Benjamin.
“We have asked them to get a complete report in place so that parking lots are well connected to railway stations, bus stops, Metro and Monorail stations. Big vehicles like inter-state buses should get parking space,” added Benjamin.
He has also asked them to explore the possibility of declaring certain zones in the city as public transport zones to discourage private vehicles from entering those areas.
But transport expert Sudhir Badami has his reservations. “These solutions will fail if the public transport system is not boosted at a great pace,” he said.
