Parking Woes

Friends, if you are living in any big town/city and owning a car then there will be times when you might have faced parking problems. But in metro city like Mumbai, parking is a nightmare, here people have cars but they do not drive the car because after reaching any desired destination, you are not sure of getting parking place, unless you are going to a big shopping mall or multiplex cinema, where you know there will be pay and park system. Otherwise problem is so serious that people before moving out  of the house , first check whether the parking is available at the place where they are going.This has indirectly helped the App based cabs like Ola and Uber.

Yesterday Bombay High Court  made an observations “Today person  thinks  just because they have a car they can park it anywhere they like. No one is bothering about the right of pedestrians.” This observation was made while hearing a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) about traffic congestion in Kalbadevi neighbourhood, a popular shopping/commercial area comprising of Princess Street, Crawford Market, Chira Bazaar etc. The PIL was filed complaining that vehicles are parked haphazardly in this area, as a result even emergency vehicles and ambulances generally get stuck in traffic jams resulting in even loss of life sometimes. The HC asked the State Govt, Mumbai Traffic Police and Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to come up with solution.

Mumbai has about 33 lakhs vehicles on the road, among this vehicle density there are 9.5 lakhs private vehicles. So practically all these vehicles needs parking space. Mumbai city always faces space crunch and among 9.5 lakhs private vehicles even if 40% also moves out daily that means you need a parking space for about 4 lakhs vehicles, because at night these 9.5 lakhs vehicles are parked somewhere, either in housing complexes or on roads outside the residence of the car owners. Now as per the data available, BMC have space for about 11,000 cars in 92 on street parking lots.  Few days back there was news in the print  media, where they mention that under ground parking lots taken over by BMC( developed by Builders) is having  only 20% occupancy as the BMC charges high parking fees . The parking charges vary from place to place and it can be Rs 60 for an hour and going up to Rs 210 for 12 hours. In a place like Mumbai airport the parking charges are about Rs 200 for half an hour, and it can go up to 400 for 2 hours. So the people prefer to park their car on the roads

I remember when Road Tax or now called RTO tax was first time introduced, that time it was informed to car owners that as your vehicles is plying on the govt  road and you are also parking the car on these roads therefore this tax is being introduced, so this tax being levied is required to maintain the roads and to cover the cost of transport officials. The present situation is such that we are paying to govt Road Tax, but condition of Mumbai Roads is pathetic and  finding a free or even paid parking place is a big problem.

Others problems, the motorists/car owners are facing in Mumbai are – First you  go to any road you will find private cabs like Ola, Uber, Tourist cabs being parked there, that you can very well identify with their number plates ( black numbers on yellow background), secondly on any road you go you will see abandoned cars being parked there, and thirdly  so many areas in Mumbai where you will find used car dealers parking the used cars for sale on the public roads, and hence depriving the general public the rightful parking space. Generally these used car dealers are giving Haftas to traffic department, so these cars are never towed away.

In my opinion Mumbai Metropolitan Region has been totally let down by the Central Govt, State Govt and Municipal Corporation and their Planners. A city which generates almost 30% of  taxes for Central Govt and both state and BMC milk the citizens of this city to fill their coffers have brought this city to this pathetic conditions. The fact is that , when in early 90s economy opened and suddenly income level started rising and banks started giving cars loans , the density of vehicles population started rising. People started buying cars as other rapid and comfortable mode of transport was not available, Local trains and BEST buses were always crowded and people earning decent salary opted for cars. The Metro rail network which is being planned and implemented now, should have started about 20/25 years back, then we would not have come across this present problems of traffic and parking. Thanks to our short sighted politicians and bureaucrats, who are only trained to find short terms solution or start digging the well when the fire starts.

So in the end friends, what is your opinion on this topic. My non Mumbai friends, please excuse me today, today’s topic may not interest you totally but which ever city you are staying, you will always experience the parking woes.

Please give your feed backs/comments/views.