Metro commuters' arbitrary parking poses headache for those residing near stations in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The convenience of Bengaluru's metro is plagued by an inconvenient consequence — haphazard two-wheeler parking.

While private agencies maintain parking spaces at 53 stations, those DH visited in the southern and eastern areas found commuters parking vehicles on the roadside and before the gates of private residences and businesses.

Despite placing ‘no-parking’ boards and shielding the space with concrete blocks and plants, Jayanagar residents continue to face the problem.

"Two-wheeler riders park in the gaps between cars, making it impossible to move them," said Kusuma Latha, who takes passersby and neighbours’ help to remove one two-wheeler a day.

Vishwanath (name changed), residing in the police quarters behind the Whitefield (Kadugodi) metro station, said riders ignore boards declaring no parking in the premises. “The problem persisted even after we appointed a watchman to ensure vehicles are not parked near the gate,” he said.

Businesses suffer

The manager of a popular south Indian restaurant near the South End Circle metro station said business suffered due to commuters occupying space in front of their establishment. They park the vehicles for hours together, he said.

“Customers eventually move on since they do not find parking space,” said the manager, Ravishankar K.

Shrunken road space has also pushed essential services away from the establishments.

Naveen Kumar, manager of an electrical supply store near the Lalbagh metro station, said trucks are made to park far away and his employees transport goods to the store by foot.

Haphazard parking near the South End metro station.

Unfair fare?  

Though many metros collect a fair charge of Rs 15 for the first four hours and a further Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers, and a maximum Rs 30 charge per day, some parking areas charge arbitrarily, forcing commuters to look elsewhere. “Spending almost Rs 70 a day is expensive,” said Shashi a music teacher, who prefers free parking near the Jayanagar metro station.

Last-mile connectivity

BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer BL Yashavanth Chavan put the onus on commuters to sort out their last-mile connectivity issues. “People must use feeder buses and other forms of last-mile connectivity since parking spaces may not be expanded due to higher land costs,” he said.