According to me, it is a bad idea to build a parking space in the CBD, as it invites more vehicle users resulting in heavier congestion. Moreover, this is not the time to come up with parking spaces.
Instead, the government should work on providing parking spaces on the exterior zones of the city, from where one can board a Metro to reach the city centre. It is time the government and people realised that private vehicles and cabs should not ply to CBD areas as it increases vehicular population and space crunch.
It is the right time for the government to ban parking in CBD areas. Instead, it can work on setting up parking spaces at Metro stations and encourage people to travel in Metros to these areas. This will motivate people to use the public transport and reduce vehicular movement in CBD areas.
Constructing a new multi-level parking space is not feasible. You cannot keep providing space, while the vehicular population keeps increasing every day.
(The author is an associate professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IISc)
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