Bogota effect? Commercial St, Brigade Road may go vehicle-free

BENGALURU: A Bogota plan is set to be replicated in namma Bengaluru to decongest the city's harrowing traffic. As a first step, all vehicular movement is likely to be banned on Brigade Road and Commercial Street, the two prominent shopping hubs in city's CBD (Central Business District) area. A similar experiment was proposed in the past on Commercial Street but had to be dumped due to stiff resistance from shopkeepers. But the Colombian capital's success has rid policy-makers of all self-doubts. The idea, though nascent, is being pushed through by a panel set up to advise the government on decongesting the city. Chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee, who heads the panel, told TOI, "The plan is to first make Commercial Street and Brigade Road free of traffic. Later it will be extended to other streets in CBD. Ideally CBD should be for pedestrians. Vehicles should be parked on the periphery of the area to decongest the city." According to Enrique Penalosa, hailed as the man behind the only successful model of the bus rapid transit corridor in Bogota: "We have had cities built for pedestrians for 5,000 years. It's only now we have cities built for cars. A city with hundreds of kilometres of protected bicycle paths, non-motorized promenades, greenways, parks and public spaces changes the way that a city lives." The Bogota model also moots imposing congestion tax during peak hours and banning cars during the period in CBD. One of the indications that cars may be restricted in CBD is the construction of wider footpaths under TenderSure project. The new pavements on St Mark's Road are much wider now. Similarly, depending on road width, wider pavements are being taken up in CBD. Offering the big picture, Penalosa talks about car-use restrictions and not car-ownership restrictions. "The simplest solution is parking restrictions. In London, the central business district cannot have parking. The Shard, the tallest tower in Europe, has only 43 parking spots, which are for the handicapped. In total though, 10,000 people work in that tower! Restrictions on parking shouldn't be at home, but at the destination. At least half the trips are less than 15km. Instead of highways, make avenues. Avenues are road spaces but with bus lanes, pavements, bicycle tracks etc." The panel has readied a roadmap to amend the building by-laws and make stilt parking for residences above three floors mandatory. -TOI