A ride on five arterial roads in the city was a breeze on Sunday, two days after the civic body demarcated stretches across the roads as no-parking zones, imposing heavy penalties against violators. The stretches that have been marked as no-parking zones are 3km (Churchgate station to Opera House) on Maharshi Karve Road; 1.5km (Portuguese Church to LJ junction) on Gokhale Road; 1.5km (Kalpataru Crest to Nirmal Lifestyle) on LBS Road; 6km (Juhu Airport to Oshiwara River) on SV Road; and a 2km (DN Nagar Metro station to Oshiwara River) on New Link Road. Consequently, the roads, known for their choc-a-bloc traffic, now have additional lane for motorists.
The civic authorities, while announcing the decision on August 28, urged motorists to use on-street pay and parks on Jaykar Road, SV Patel Road and Mathew Road, Kohinoor Public parking lot opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan, between Kalpataru and Nirmal Lifestyle Mall, on VM Road and SV Road, and at a public parking lot near Infinity mall.
According to the BMC, since August 30, the vehicles parked at nearby public parking lots or on-street parking lots increased between 20% and 30%. Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of G North ward, under whose jurisdiction the Gokhale Road no-parking zone falls, said, “The Kohinoor PPL, which has been opened for temporary free parking for commuters, until the BMC finds a contractor to maintain it, now sees three to four floors occupied by parked cars, versus only one floor that used to be occupied earlier. Even though this is a bit of a walk, commuters prefer it over paying a hefty penalty.”
A senior civic officer said, “In T ward, on LBS Road, no vehicles were parked in the no-parking zone, hence the fine collected or vehicles towed amounted to nil. On the contrary, we found 13 vehicles parked in the free pay-and-park service nearby.”
Vinayak Vispute, assistant commissioner of the C ward, which covers part of MK Road, said, “While we made one side of MK Road a no-parking zone, and the other side open for parking temporarily, we have seen a drastic change in traffic flow. The no-parking zone is free of illegally parked vehicles.” With more space, the BMC intends to improve public transport on these roads. Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said, “With roads freed up, we will immediately increase BEST bus frequencies on these routes.”
