GBA To Offer Incentives For Private Parking Facilities To Boost Off-Street Parking In Bengaluru

Bengaluru: In a bid to eliminate street parking across Bengaluru city -- both in commercial and residential areas, the Greater Bengaluru Authority and the Bengaluru Traffic Police are planning to extend incentives to plot owners to come up with private parking lots in their vacant areas.

Besides, the GBA and Traffic Police are making efforts to curb street side parking by making the entire city `pay and park' region and making it very expensive for the vehicle owners, who would be forced to purchase a parking space.

During a high level meeting of the Urban Development Department involving senior officers  from all the stakeholders, including GBA and Traffic Police to finalise the Greater Bengaluru Area Parking Rules, 2026, a few decisions have been drafted.

GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said that the proposals were in draft status and once they are fine tuned, the government will seek comments from the public before passing a legislation.

The main focus of the draft parking rules is proposing incentive programs for creating parking infrastructure by encouraging the private land or plot owners to open up vacant sites for public parking instead of leaving them idle. The GBA will be extending property tax for such plots  upto a period of 35 years. However, the duration of the tax exemption depends on the size of the plot. Bigger the plot, the longer the tax exemption will be.

Besides, GBA will not interfere in the fixation of parking fees by the private operators. It will be purely between the parking lot owners and the vehicle owners. After the exemption period, the parking providers need to pay the service taxes.

However, the rule is that the parking facility should run for at least 250 days in a year and at least 12 hours a day. The exemptions are not applicable to the facilities with semi commercial complex or semi residential complexes.

Among the other draft proposals, the GBA has decided to make the entire city a 'no free parking region', barring for bicycles. The parking fee for the vehicles will be based on the regions and the busiest areas may be charged up to ₹80 per hour for four wheelers.

Even the residential areas are not spared from paid parking. The vehicle owners will have to purchase parking slots in residential areas for parking their vehicle on streets. While the hatchbacks will be charged ₹15,000 annually, the Sedans may have to pay ₹20,000. The SUVs will have to pay ₹ 25,000 annually,. while the visitors' parking will also become chargeable.

The draft recommendation also proposes to prohibit on-street non-residential parking within 150 meters of metro and suburban railway stations initially. Gradually, it would be extended to 500 meters. It is also proposed to create `No Tolerance Zones' on major arterial roads where parking violations will be strictly enforced. The draft also strengthened enforcement by authorising parking operators to issue violation notices and with police approval, tow or clamp vehicles parked illegally. 

The Parking revenue will be maintained in a separate account and reinvested in parking infrastructure, footpaths, bus shelters and other mobility projects.