How many free parking spots are left?
November 16, 2006
Have car, but no place to park. Park free we mean. In the city’s A ward, almost every main road is dominated by the parking contrators who have taken over the free space in the city. Here’s a look at the prime locations in South Mumbai and the bother involved in finding a place to park.
In a city already bursting at its seams with a burgeoning population, it comes as no surprise that vehicular traffic is also an irksome problem; one which the authorities and citizens are battling with everyday. How many times have you had a squabble with a complete stranger for a parking spot that you thought you’d ‘claimed’ first? How many times have you gone round in circles, scratching your head, trying to find a place to park for your vehicle?
While two-wheelers are luckier in that regard; as it can be parked almost anywhere, but parking a four-wheeler in Mumbai can be quite exasperating at times if not always.
And that too, there isn’t any guarantee that when you return, your deck or speakers (among other things) won’t have miraculously disappeared. Among a population of more than a
crore and with the number of vehicles in the city increasing by thousands every month, the question in everybody’s mind is how will Mumbai cope with these growing numbers that show no sign of relenting?
Where is the space to accommodate lakhs of cars? And how many free parking spots are left in the city where you know your expensive four wheeler will be safe?
Here we find out which places in Mumbai’s ‘A’ Ward, one of the prime locations in the city, have free parking and which areas are now dominated by the notorious ‘Pay n Park’ system…
Departmental Stores
Bombay Store
This multipurpose store at Fort offers free valet parking to its customers. According to a store representative, “We park the cars on the same road or around the block, wherever parking is available. We park the all cars in the ‘Pay n Park’ that is accessible in the area but we do not charge our customers for that.”
Globus
Globus has three branches in the city; at Kala Ghoda, Bandra and Thane. While one at Kala Ghoda offers no valet parking, the outlet at Thane is a part of Infinity Mall where the mall provides parking. However the Bandra Globus has valet parking at Rs 30 an hour, which will be reimbursed if you purchase goods worth Rs 30 at Globus. This system is, however, valid only for shoppers; moviegoers are not entitled to valet parking.
Westside
Free underground valet parking facility is available for patrons at the Hughes Road branch. However, the outlets at R Mall, Mulund and Infinity Mall, Andheri provide parking under the respective malls guidelines as they are situated in the malls.
Akbarally’s
None of the branches offers valet parking although pay and park facilities are available near the stores at the owner’s risk.
On the streets of A ward…
All the pay and park areas in the city are of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The BMC has then given out contracts to various corporations to maintain the lands. And no matter which area, the parking lot is situated, the BMC has a standard charge for the lots.
One such area is the much-congested Crawford Market. Just outside the market, there are three parking lots, the last one that is situated adjacent to the J J flyover. The contract of these plots are given to R. T Corporation. Speaking about the parking availability in these plots, Manager Khalil Sheikh said, “In the first lot, about 50 cars can fit in. The second lot which is just outside P. K Wines has the capacity of about 40 cars. The third lot, adjoining the JJ flyover too has the capacity to fit in 40 cars.” The cars are usually parked for an hour or two, since most of the car owners are shoppers.
But the area under the flyover is strictly for the office bearers of ‘Great Offshore’, a shipping company placed near the flyover. They have their own security guard, and they pay the parking rates for 40 cars of their office bearers.
The ‘aam admi’ however cannot park free on or opposite to JJ School of Arts. While the side of the JJ School is for the government officials, the opposite side is only for vehicles of Railway officials. However, in the lanes of Crawford Market like the ‘Abdul Rehman Street’, parking is free for all.
At Cuffe Parade, the Maker Towers do not have any parking space to offer to the visitors. Talking to us, the Manager, Uma Shankar said, “Parking in our society is only for our members, who are our tenants. We have given them stickers. But even then, it is on a first come first basis as there are more than 200 members and we only have place for 50 cars.”
Beside Maker Towers, the World Trade Centre has some space to offer to the visitors. This space is just inside the first gate, from where private vehicles are allowed. “This space can accommodate 30 cars. The rest of our compound is reserved for cars of people who own shops in our premises,” said S. L. Savant, a security guard.
Part of the divider opposite to World Trade Center is a taxi stand. The rest of it is used by the residents of Jolly Maker. “Our compound does not have enough space for the cars of all our residents. So we keep their cars adjacent to the divider,” said the security man, Vivekanand Rai.
Another area where there is space for parking is the Ballard Estate. For free, one can park on the Walchand Hirachand Marg. This is the road where Janmabhoomi Chambers and Jahaz Bhavan is located. However, between these two illustrious buildings, there is a bus stop, which is a no parking zone, and the traffic police do not think twice while towing away vehicles parked within 15 metres of the bus stop. The by lanes of Ballad Estate such as the Viju Kotak Marg and Kumtha Street too have free parking.
Just around the corner of the Jehaz Bhavan, the main road where the Ballard Estate Petrol pump is located has a pay and park on the entire length of the divider. While one side of the divider is given to contractor G. T Corporations, another side is given to R. T Corporations. An attendant at the pay and park, Ajay Pandey said that the cars are parked from morning to evening, and belong to people working in the offices nearby. “There is enough space to park 28 cars on one side. And the parking lot space is outlined with yellow paint”, said Pandey.
At Nariman Point, there is hardly any space free for parking. At the mall CR2, there is parking available at Rs. 15 for the first half an hour and Rs. 5 for the consecutive hours. There is also parking available in the by lanes of Madam Cama Road and opposite to the NCPA. And they are all Pay and Park. The only other place where parking is available is in Commercial societies at the Mahashri Valniki Chowk, such as the Mittal Towers and Maker Chambers. Talking about the parking system at the Maker Chambers, Security Head T. Satheesan said, “Each parking slot is owned by a tenant of this society, and nobody else can park in a tenant’s space. When the society was built, along with the office space, the builder also sold one parking slot to each tenant.”
The management of the other societies refused to comment.
At Colaba, only if one is lucky will there be any parking space available on the Colaba Causeway. On the entire stretch of the main road, ‘S. D Road’ of Colaba, there is no pay and park. But while the parking is free, every available space is occupied early in the morning. The bylanes of Colaba, such as the ‘Strand road’ and the ‘Hajiniyaz Ahmad Azmi Marg’ are packed with cars. To find an available space, one can drive up to Wode House road, where Chirag Din is situated. It is relatively empty all times of the day.