Parking Nightmare in Bangalore

[Mpower]

So over the weekend, my folks set out to Commercial Street to do some shopping and apparently after going around for 1/2 hour, could not find a single place to park. Driver is off for the day.

So they had to come halfway home leave the car somewhere and take an rick to C.Steet.

Is the situation in B'lore really that bad? Any secrets you guys can share on where to park. I can see a lot of shoppers going to places like Forum just for the parking structure.

[Zappo]

Mpower... its not just Bangalore buddy, even Hyderabad is fast catching this malady. On weekends if you go to areas like MG Road you can just keep crawling for hours and yet won't find a parking space. And then when a frustrated driver decides to park a car somewhere vacant, say in front of a closed shop, it is either towed away in minutes or at the least gets slapped with a parking ticket.

Different cities, same pain

[spadival]

What do u expect? Most of the commercial establishments dont even bother about providing parking facilities to their customers.. They even use the basement area to setup shops..

So moral of the story is to go to a place where there is good parking facility. Spencers Plaza in Chennai is a model on how to provide good parking facilities with a muli-level car park attached to the shopping area.

[deepakhon]

Yes. Parking in Bangalore is a major nightmare. To quote an instance, we had been to Jayanagar 4th Block shopping complex to purchase a pram for my little Smriti. I dropped my wife near the shop and started looking at a parking lot for my Palio. I went around the entire block around 3 times after which I found a parking lot. The moment I parked, I got a call that the purchase has been made and I just took my car near the shop again and drove back with a pram.
These days, if I need to go to areas like MG Road and Commercial Street, I will use the autos.

[condor]

It's really bad. Got to take a driver when going into city. Even then, we call him on the mobile to come and pick us up. And situation is not limited to the city center - same situation in areas like Jayanagar 4th block, Koramangala, Malleswaram, Indiranagar ..

And even with a multi-storey car park like the Kempegowda Maharaj complex, the place is absolutely congested - the parking slots and the ramps between floors.

[Harrie]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Any secrets you guys can share on where to park. I can see a lot of shoppers going to places like Forum just for the parking structure.

Whenever we wanted to do some shopping at Commercial street, we would either go there by 9.30 AM, find a parking space, walk over to MG road, have breakfast and get back by 10.30 to do some shopping. Or we park in Garuda mall and get a rick. Simple.

[ajmat]

only way is to go at 10.00 am. Parking is available as the tidal shopping wave occurs 10.30 onwards

[akroy]

Ya parking in blr is nightmare, especially in commercial street and MG, brigade road and the malls...Hence, I never take out my car for these places...
Go for shopping to these places on weekdays say on a Monday and preferably go by bike...Even by car you might get parking...I do the same and i have been successful in the last one year...I take my bike to FoodBazar(Blr Central mall), brigade road, commercial street and prefer on a monday and plan it out a week in advance so that i am back fom office early...

In weekends either I am out of bangalore or totally confined inside the house (if i am inside blore)....

Try that out, you will not get frustrated again...

Abhi

[hondadude]

Yup, parking is a nightmare. That's why these days I go only to malls. I would wager that as more malls open up and parking situation gets worse in commercial and brigade areas, people will gradually start shopping from malls as opposed to these areas and the shopkeepers will eventually lose out.

Forgot that asked for tips. There are none these days as far as Commercial street is concerned. A few years back, I could find the parking on the road that leads to Manipal center or on the bylanes but these days there is no secrets as far as commercial/Brigade/MG road area is concerned.

[Joz]

Tell me about it. I face this everyday. I work on Brunton Road. If a reach office late (which i usually do), the alloted parking lots are full. And you will not find any parking on the roads, thanks to the passport office. Earlier a friend of mine used to live at Victoria Layout so i used to park there and walk back. But she shifted out!! From then on, all hell broke loose. I spend a minimum 20 - 30 minutes looking for parking. Once i parked at Garuda Mall paying Rs. 70 for the whole day. That was it.

Now i make it a point to wake up much early and reach office by 9:00 or take a rick to work.

[Samurai]

Parking problems... Hmm... I kinda remember them...

Yes, it is coming back to me now. I too started going to the malls because of parking problems. However, you still have to go to good old commercial street or Gandhinagar if you want something specific or specialized. And it will be cheaper too. Malls only have items of consumer interest, hangout space and lots of entertainment.

[vid6639]

the best thing to do is go there on weekdays. weekends is chaotic. all the malls are crowded mg road and brigade rd hav horrid traffic. commercial street doesnt have place to walk.
weekdays is much better. parking is available on kamraj road easily.
thankfully pay and park is coming back soon. shud give some respite.

[Rover]

To Bangalore boys -

Have you noticed how crowded the parking spaces in the malls have become? I was in que for 30 min for a parking slot at Bangalore Central. Last saturday I waited 20 min to get into Forum and gave up (to the disappointment of the family).

Prestige men's shop has valet parking in Commercial street. If I have to do any shopping in Comm street, I normally go to Prestige use the valet service and after work at Prestige go around comm street for the other bits and get back to prestige to retrieve the car.

There is a building on Kamaraj road (forgot the name) which usually has parking at the basement at Rs 15 per hour. It is the 3rd building after Metro shoes at the junction of Kamaraj road and comm street. Lately it is becoming crowded as well.

[TSEA]

Driving in Bangalore in itself is a nightmare, leave alone parking. I usually let my wife do the shopping, while I wait in the car (saves me from the intricacy of typical female shopping). If I have to buy something for my self, I prefer my bike over my car.

For Jaynagar 4th block, I park my car inside some sidelanes, in front of somebodies house (no other choice) and walk to the shopping center.

Commercial street! Hmm a long wait usually..

[gkrishn]

Have you guys ever heard of a underground parking lot in MG road??? Its pretty close to b'lore central, brigade road. I park here, and almost all the time I get space.