Since October 2025, Anish (name changed), a private company employee, has been spending an additional ₹1,800 every month just to park his two-wheeler on M.G. Road. The return of paid parking on one of the busiest stretches in Bengaluru, after a lull of nearly two years, has quietly altered his monthly budget.
In contrast, his colleague Navya R., who commutes from Yelahanka, has switched to public transport. While the shift has helped her save some money, it comes with its own challenges: longer travel time and poor last-mile connectivity.
For Anish, however, public transport is not an option. His job involves fieldwork, and his motorcycle remains essential.
This dilemma in daily commute choices may soon become common across Bengaluru. City corporations have floated tenders to implement paid parking on more than 30 road stretches as part of a pilot project, signalling a broader push to monetise public spaces and regulate on-street parking.
Return of paid parking
According to the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP), 291 major road stretches across the city currently allow free parking. Of these, 52 roads have been identified as suitable for the introduction of paid parking. If the pilot project yields the desired results, officials say the system could be expanded citywide. If everything goes as planned, by the start of April, paid parking system will be in place across the city.
Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the list was prepared after considering factors such as traffic flow, availability of space, and public convenience. A Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) official added that the corporations have further filtered these stretches and floated tenders for implementation, in line with Parking Policy 2.0 drafted by the Directorate of Urban Land and Transport (DULT).
Most civic groups, traffic police officials, and urban planners have welcomed the move.
R. Rajagopal of Bengaluru Coalition put it this way: “We have enjoyed free parking for all these years, which was a missed opportunity for the corporation to generate revenue.”
The idea to resume paid parking was discussed when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was functional, and then Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao had directed the East Division to resume paid parking on M.G. Road. Two months into the new system, motorists quickly adapted to the mandate, as there were few-to-no alternatives.
The response not only prompted the City Central Corporation to expand the system, but also influenced other corporations to adopt the model. However, concerns remain over the rate structure, the implementation plan, and whether the exercise will really address traffic congestion.
Why are city corporations pushing paid parking?
The renewed focus on paid parking coincides with the formation of five new city corporations. On September 2, Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar repeatedly highlighted that splitting the city would encourage competition among corporations and open up new revenue streams. Paid parking has emerged as one such source of revenue.
V. Ravichandar, a civic evangelist and urban planner, argues that roads are valuable city assets, and must be used efficiently. “Paid parking brings order to streets, discourages long-term occupation of public space, and can improve traffic flow when combined with enforcement,” he said.
R.K. Misra, independent director of BSMILE, explained that planned enforcement coupled with systematic paid parking can address micro-level traffic issues, which, in turn, improves vehicle flow.
A Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) in Bengaluru explained the phenomenon: “Haphazard parking, even in areas where parking is permitted, reduces available of space and encourages parking in connecting roads or sub-arterial roads. When residential parking increases, even smaller roads get cluttered, and the congestion spillover indirectly affects main roads as well.” In the case of paid parking, there will be a structured system to accommodate more vehicles, he added.
Globally, paid parking is viewed as a demand management tool. By putting a price on parking, cities attempt to influence travel behaviour, discourage unnecessary private vehicle use, and promote public transport, according to urban planners.
However, they also cautioned that paid parking alone will not reduce congestion. Without complementary measures, such as improved public transport, residential parking regulation, and consistent enforcement, the policy risks simply displacing the problem, they said.
Towing makes a comeback
Alongside paid parking, the BTP is resuming towing operations to curb improper parking, though this will be limited to high-density corridors.
While the move may reduce congestion on specific stretches, it may not complement paid parking to the extent that the corporations and BTP anticipate because towing itself is subject to restrictions. As per the parking policy, towing may be carried out only when an illegally parked vehicle obstructs pedestrian movement or traffic flow.
The policy further states: “The civic agency may strive to ensure that the need for towing of vehicles is minimised through effective communication and active monitoring of parking lots, as extensive towing operations usually lead to undesirable obstruction to vehicle movement on roads.”
However, this time, illegal parking is expected to be costly for violators, which could encourage positive behaviour and curb the problem to some extent. With both the civic body and the BTP jointly implementing towing, fines will be collected by the BTP while towing charges will be levied by the civic body.
The rates are yet to be finalised, but this could also pose enforcement challenges.
Enforcement challenges
One major drawback of paid parking is the spillover into residential areas. For instance, Rest House Road is often filled with illegally parked vehicles. When paid parking was introduced on M.G. Road, traffic police reported an increase in illegal parking along the stretch, as people were unwilling to pay for parking. The only way to penalise such behaviour is through clamping, but the number of vehicles that can be clamped is limited.
This situation is likely to affect other paid parking zones as well.
Compounding the issue, there are around 1,100 no-parking stretches across the city, according to BTP data, which could further exacerbate the problem.
“There should have been a separate plan for residential parking, as it is a definite outcome of paid parking implementation. With no restriction on parking on residential streets, this will turn into a community issue, and could also trigger law-and-order problems, with potential for verbal altercations and physical confrontations,” the DCP said.
Civic activist Dattatraya Devare said the initial draft of the parking policy had acknowledged this issue, and suggested residential parking charges as well. However, public backlash forced DULT to remove the provision.
In such a scenario, Devare said, there should have been adjustments in paid parking prices to ensure better enforcement. Currently, two-wheelers are charged ₹15 per hour and four-wheelers around ₹30 per hour. This pricing could be burdensome in some areas, such as ITPL, M.G. Road, and Hoodi, where commercial establishments and office spaces are concentrated. A slight change, such as reducing the two-wheeler fee to ₹10 per hour, could encourage motorists to use designated parking facilities, he suggested.
For example, near Yelahanka New Town, a paid parking system was introduced a few months ago, with the charge set at ₹10 for two hours. The area has seen a positive response, although residential parking remains an issue.
Rajagopal suggested that parking charges could vary based on road stretches.
Additionally, city corporations must focus on expanding public transport infrastructure, Devare said.
“Expanding the public transport fleet is always beneficial for a city. In fact, there should be room for private players as well,” Misra added.
Bengaluru currently has a BMTC fleet of over 7,000 buses, serving close to 50 lakh people, even as the city’s estimated population stands at 1.4 crore. This indicates that the country’s largest public transport fleet still falls short of meeting the city’s needs. The gap is further exacerbated by poor last-mile connectivity and delays in the expansion of the Namma Metro network. In the absence of a private bus fleet, cabs and autorickshaws in the city have become an expensive option.
Navya, for instance, travels daily to M.G. Road from Yelahanka 4th Phase. She either has to take a direct bus, which runs infrequently, or travel to Majestic by bus and then board a metro train. As a result, she faces significant inconvenience, especially during peak hours.
“Even if I reach the bus stop on time, I have to squeeze in with hundreds of people, or skip one bus and wait for the next. This is why private vehicles are a desirable option, but I am forced to shift to buses due to the parking fee,” she said.
With the implementation of paid parking, the civic body should have coordinated with transport agencies to ensure commuters are not inconvenienced when they shift travel modes.
Notably, the parking policy acknowledges such challenges and outlines ways to address them.
Governance and management
The parking policy clearly states that parking funds must be ring-fenced and used by the civic agency only for development works related to pedestrian safety, road safety, non-motorised transport (NMT) infrastructure, footpath improvement, enhancement of public spaces for pedestrians (such as avenue tree planting), improvement of transit infrastructure, subsidisation of public transport, and public awareness campaigns on parking and sustainable mobility.
The policy also recommends the use of modern technology for parking management, including on-street meters, automated boom barriers, CCTV cameras, computerised parking slips with timers, variable message signboards, and mobile applications.
It further proposes the creation of an integrated Central Parking Portal hosted by the civic agency, which would display real-time information on parking availability across the city.
However, civic bodies have moved ahead without addressing these aspects.
A source within a corporation confirmed that no action plan has been prepared to channel revenue from paid parking, and there is no proposal for any development project to be funded through this revenue. “The primary focus is on increasing revenue for the new corporations,” the official said.
As a result, the broader objective of the policy remains unfulfilled. The policy envisages using parking revenue to reduce parking demand by improving sustainable mobility options so that, over time, reliance on private vehicles decreases, and land allocated for parking can be reclaimed for more productive use.
Despite this, civic groups welcome the move, stating that paid parking is the need of the hour to improve civic sense among citizens. However, Navya says, “I would have to revert to my private vehicle because public transport is tiring to access, especially after a long work day.”
