Mumbai: No more free parking on five city stretches

Once implemented, people will either have to park in the public parking lots in the area or at the pay-and-park slots on the arterial roads that will be managed by contractors. Representation pic

The BMC's much-awaited plan of introducing on-street paid parking, which is expected to be announced later this month, will include two stretches of arterial roads and three areas on a pilot basis. Once implemented, people will either have to park in the public parking lots in the area or at the pay-and-park slots on some arterial and internal roads that will be managed by contractors. The announcement comes over a week after mid-day reported about the civic body's pilot plan to allow on-street parking in three selected inside roads in the city.

Speaking to mid-day, additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said that a few final measures need to be taken before the on-street parking plan is announced. "Five stretches have been refined to be turned into no-free-parking zones for free movement of traffic. This is being done in the interest of the public and the plan is to encourage people to use public parking lots (PPL) and other paid parking wherever available," he said.

"The preparations have been going on and I have been following up with the ward officials. Boards have to be put up and notifications have to be issued by the traffic department," he added.

Also Read: Now, BMC wants you to park vehicles underground

Map/ Uday Mohite

On the roads

The on-street parking will first be enforced on Maharshi Karve (MK) road, which will include parts of A, C and D administrative wards, and SV Road in K West ward. Civic officials said that barring a few paid parking slots, the 3.5 km-long stretch from Churchgate station to the Opera House junction will largely be a no-parking zone. "Some paid parking slots are available on internal roads and additional provision has been made. There will be parking slots based on equivalent car space that will be available on 15 internal roads and at a few places on MK Road," said a BMC official.

However, no parking will be allowed on the 5.7 km-long stretch of S V Road in the K West ward, from the Juhu airport to the Oshiwara river.

"S V Road has always been a no parking zone but now, this will be strictly enforced. Paid parking slots will be available on 10 internal roads in the area and people will have to park there," said the official.

Also Read: Mumbai: New BMC app will help you find public parking lots in the city

The three other areas

No parking will be allowed on Veer Savarkar Marg. File pic

There are three other areas where on-street parking will be introduced on a pilot basis as well. In the island city, the parking will be implemented in an area measuring 1.53 sq km around a stretch of Gokhale Road, from Portuguese Church to Lady Jamshetjee junction near Shivaji Park. Officials said that the area has three arterial roads. While paid parking will be available on a section of Gokhale Road and Senapati Bapat Marg, no parking will be allowed on Veer Savarkar Marg. Paid parking slots will be made available on 13 internal roads in the area.

In the western suburbs, on-street parking has been planned in an area measuring 1.53 sq km around New Link Road in the K West ward. The stretch of New Link Road starts at the D N Nagar Metro station and ends at Oshiwara River.

"There is a PPL in the area which can accommodate 500 vehicles but only 14 per cent of it is being used. Additional pay and park slots will be available on 15 internal roads as well as a 900 metre stretch of New Link Road from Oshiwara Road junction till Oshiwara River," said the official.

In the eastern suburbs, no parking will be allowed on LBS Road and people will have to find paid parking slots on certain stretches of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road and 13 internal roads in an area measuring 1.3 sq km.

Apart from the paid parking slots that will be made available on internal roads, there is also a public parking lot with 1,200 parking slots and an average occupancy rate of 30 per cent.

No parking near junctions

Civic officials said that the plan has been shared with traffic police, ward officials and contractors who will be responsible for the management of pay and park slots.

The official added that no parking will be allowed near the junctions and based on the specific demands of the area, slots will be available either on one side or both sides of the internal roads.

Also Read: Mumbai: BMC to clear out main roads, send cars into bylanes

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