Over 60% of Bengaluru Road Space Occupied by Parked Vehicles, Minister Demands Stricter Rules

Speaking at a high-level consultative meeting with former Bengaluru mayors at Vidhana Soudha, Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda highlighted a critical flaw in the city's traffic management strategy. He pointed out that illegal and unregulated parking on both sides of even narrow roads effectively reduces usable transit space by 60 percent, drastically undermining the benefits of newly constructed road infrastructure. The minister stressed that expanding the road network alone will fail to ease Bengaluru's chronic traffic gridlocks unless accompanied by stringent parking regulation and citizen cooperation. He highlighted that existing civic administration personnel and local police lack the requisite manpower to enforce parking rules continuously across all sectors of the expanding metropolis. To address this gap, the Karnataka government is evaluating a proposal to establish a dedicated parking enforcement agency tasked exclusively with regulating roadside parking, clearing obstructed footpaths, and enabling micro-mobility for short-distance commutes. Furthermore, Gowda expressed deep concern over widespread civic non-compliance, such as residential buildings failing to provide mandatory parking facilities and unauthorized modifications to drainage lines. Calling on citizens to exercise greater self-discipline, he noted that sustainable urban mobility relies equally on public responsibility, functional pedestrian infrastructure, and strict enforcement of civic laws.