Pune: The lack of enough parking space at the Nal Stop Metro station has become a major inconvenience for daily commuters who rely on the metro for hassle-free travel across the city.
Despite being one of the busiest stations on the Pune Metro route, Nal Stop currently lacks adequate two-wheeler parking facilities and has no provision for four-wheelers. As a result, commuters are forced to park their vehicles haphazardly, leading to traffic congestion and bottlenecks in the surrounding area.
Office-goers, students, and senior citizens who depend on the metro service say the situation defeats the purpose of promoting public transport. “We want to use the metro to avoid traffic, but there is no place to safely park our vehicles. Every day becomes a struggle; in Pune we don’t have a complete metro facility, and Nal stop is the nearest to my location, but I can’t use the metro because most of the time there is no space available to park your vehicle,” said Ritika Goel, a regular commuter.
Local residents in the Nal Stop and Karve Road area have also expressed frustration over the issue. The Metro station was developed without planning; the parking lot is creating trouble, as it also led to haphazard parking, leading to the reduced road width, which leads to frequent congestion, especially during peak hours.
Activist Sanjay Shitole called the situation a “planning failure”. He pointed out that Pune has a strong two-wheeler culture, with a large section of the population depending on bikes for daily travel. “There is no strong public transport connectivity to many areas. People use their two-wheelers to reach metro stations. Without parking, they are struggling to access the metro, which is ultimately affecting footfalls,” Sithole said.
Amol Kate, another commuter, said, “Many commuters pointed out that most metro stations across the city have the same issue; Nal Stop is not an exception. The Pune Metro authorities should have designated parking spaces near the metro station; it was not in the plan, but now the people are facing issues. It took me a lot of time to take out my two-wheeler, and the worst part is there is no security or any personal deployed to check if people are parking their vehicles in the correct manner. People have no civic sense, which makes it even more difficult to park your vehicle or take out the vehicle.”
Chandrashekhar Tambekar, Pune Metro spokesperson, speaking to the Free Press Journal, said, “Parking issues have been raised many times based on the complaints from the commuters, but the parking of the allotment has to be taken care of by the civic authorities; they should give us the space where we can arrange for the parking. It's mainly the work of the civic authorities. We have already given the requirement to the PMC.”
A PMC official, speaking on the matter, said, “We have received the letter from the Pune Metro, and we will be providing the space for the development of the parking for the two-wheelers and four-wheelers.”
They believe that unless immediate steps are taken by the Pune Metro authorities and the Pune Municipal Corporation to earmark a proper parking zone, the problem will continue to worsen as metro ridership increases.
Citizens are now urging authorities to identify nearby vacant plots or create a structured parking system to support the growing number of metro users at Nal Stop, ensuring that the metro remains a convenient and practical transport option for Pune residents.
