The trial of the smart parking system on Kasturba Road.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR
After implementing the smart parking system on 10 roads in the Central Business District (CBD), the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now failed to draw any bidders for the new smart parking system planned for all eight zones.
Recently withdrawing the earlier tender, the civic body has called for a second tender under the design, build, finance, operation, and transfer (DBFOT) smart parking model for street parking spaces in the city.
In September 2022, the BBMP called for the tender and it has now called for a fresh tender again this month with a few changes, including reducing the year of previous experience and earnest money deposit (EMD) amount.
An official from the BBMP Traffic engineering cell (TEC) said, “From five years of experience, we have reduced it to three years considering the COVID-19 lockdown in the last two years where many contractors were not getting work. Now, after the changes, we hope to get new bidders for the project to operate under a DBFOT for a period of 10 years in eight zones.”
According to officials, the new smart parking system will be taken up according to the new Parking Policy 2.0 which will be implemented by the BBMP under the recommendation of the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT).
“This project will help finding a parking spot, which has become challenging in the city. With the help of sensors installed along roads in various zones, information on availability of parking slots will be transmitted to a monitoring cell, which will relay the same to motorists via an app. The parking fee can be paid through the app or at the smart parking meters installed on the roads. CCTV cameras will also be installed as a security measure,” an official explained.
In the CBD area, the BBMP, along with the Central Parking Services (CPS), a parking management organisation, have started smart parking in 10 roads, including Kasturba Road, Cunningham Road, M.G. Road, St. Marks Road, Residency Road, Vittal Mallya Road, Mallya Hospital Road, Museum Cross Road, and Ali Asker Road.
“This is an attempt to solve traffic congestion in the city, which is compounded by illegal parking,” the official added.