After a delay of four years, Mumbai will witness municipal corporation elections on January 15. With municipal corporators set to take a fresh guard as elected representatives in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — the country’s richest municipal body — several civic issues require immediate attention. One such is the issue of parking, which continues to plague the city’s neighbourhoods. Over the past four years, the BMC has been under an administrator’s rule. However, whether it was the Mayor’s rule or the administrator’s, the parking problem remains overlooked.
At present, the BMC operates 26 off-street parking lots — parking facilities in public and private institutions that are run by the civic body. In addition, the BMC has more than 350 on-street parking lots in Mumbai — vehicles are allowed to park in and around the periphery of traffic islands, lanes and bylanes of the city. However, these facilities are inadequate.
Why a parking policy is need of the hour
Mumbai has the highest vehicle density among metro cities. According to state government data, Mumbai has a vehicle density of 2,300 cars every kilometre, the highest among all metro cities. In 2019, the city’s vehicle density stood at 1,840 cars per km while in 2014 it was 1,150 cars per km.
In stark contrast, Mumbai has a road length of 2,050 km, which is the lowest among metro cities. In comparison, Delhi has a road network of 33,000 km, Bengaluru 12,800 km, Kolkata 4,018 km and Chennai 2,780 km.
Besides, Regional Transport Office (RTO) data shows 3.02 lakh vehicles were registered in Mumbai in 2025 alone. In 2024, around 2.79 lakh vehicles were registered.
In 2019, the Mumbai’s vehicle density stood at 1,840 cars per km while in 2014 it was 1,150 cars per km. (Express Photo/Akash Patil)
However, despite the high vehicle density there is a dearth of parking spaces. Many people park their vehicles on roads, which leads to traffic congestion, and on footpaths. The BMC’s on-street parking lots are located in several areas in the island city and suburbs, including Nariman Point and Colaba, which adds to traffic congestion.
Experts say Mumbai’s roads are already overburdened, which calls for a holistic parking policy. Vivek Pai, transport expert and urban planner from the Mumbai Mobility Forum (MMF), which carried out a survey of the city’s vehicular density and parking spaces in 2018, said, “In our report we pointed out that the number of two-wheelers and four-wheelers plying on the roads are much more than the existing capacity. The vehicle density is so high that if 80 per cent of the people decide to bring out their vehicles on a single day then the entire roads of Mumbai will get chocked.”
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“In the last seven years the vehicle density has increased further. So there is an urgent need for a proper parking policy and with corporators in place the administration may be able to take this issue more seriously. The first thing the administration needs to do is identify the available parking spaces in Mumbai and quantify it to an extent that we get an idea of how much area is actually required and how much area is available right now. Based on these findings a policy could be chalked out,” he added.
BMC’s long-pending parking policy
The BMC came up with its first parking policy in 2017. Later, it proposed a Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) in 2021, which was to be an exclusive body to upgrade and regulate Mumbai’s parking infrastructure. The proposal was endorsed by former Mayor Kishori Pednekar and the MPA was proposed to be incorporated in Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation Act (MMC).
However, eight years since the policy was proposed it is yet to see the light of the day. According to a senior BMC official, the BMC sent the proposal to the state government for approval. However, a final call is yet to be taken.
“As it requires amendment of the MMC Act it needed to be approved by the state government as there were no elected representatives in the civic body. The matter was sent to the state government in the last Assembly session; however, we are awaiting clearance,” the official said.
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Under the MPA, the BMC intended to make a dedicated network of available parking spaces in Mumbai, including those in housing societies and residential buildings. The system would also allow people to book nearby parking spots by using mobile apps.
Besides, the BMC’s projects for constructing independent parking facilities have also been stalled. After opening the coastal road, civic authorities had mooted a proposal to set up independent parking facilities adjoining the road to accommodate 400-600 vehicles. However, construction was stalled after local residents flagged concerns over dust and noise pollution. The BMC also had to rollback a tender for constructing another parking facility at Mahim after it failed to get adequate responses from bidders.
What public representatives say
Former corporators, however, said once there are elected representatives after the polls, formulation of a parking policy would be one of the top priorities.
Former Colaba corporator Makarand Narwekar, who is contesting for the third time on a BJP ticket, said, “One of the key agendas that I want to take up once I am elected is to make the entire Colaba-Churchgate area parking- and pedestrian-friendly. Post-pandemic, illegal hawkers have mushroomed on the streets of Mumbai and with no proper parking and pedestrian policy the problem has escalated. Therefore, my priority is a proper policy that will end these problems,” he added.
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Another former corporator Samadhan Sarvankar, contesting for the second time from Worli, said, “Mumbai is witnessing an infrastructure churn that will lead to an influx of vehicles from the MMR region. Therefore, we need to be ready with a proper policy to ensure the roads of Mumbai don’t get blocked in the days to come.”