Now, Parking fees will be collected through FASTag in Mumbai to curb illegal parking lots

The Transport Department has amended the Urban Development Department's rules to implement an integrated parking system to curb illegal parking and traffic congestion.

In accordance with this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that all on-street parking payments in the city will soon be made through FASTag, eliminating the menace of fake parking attendants and manual cash transactions.

Under the new system, vehicle owners parking at designated BMC lots will have to scan a QR code linked to their vehicle’s FASTag account, through which the parking fee will be automatically deducted.

The new digital parking model will first be rolled out at selected BMC-managed parking lots and later expanded citywide, covering over 100 official parking zones. 

A dedicated app will also be launched to help Mumbaikars locate available slots, check rates and get digital receipts for all transactions.

A survey has been started to determine the available parking space and the space required to implement this system in other parts of Mumbai and its suburbs, including Thane, Navi Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar.

A trial will be conducted to collect parking fees from FASTags in the integrated parking system. A meeting was recently held under the chairmanship of Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik to solve the parking problem in the city.

In the meeting, Minister Pratap Sarnaik instructed the Urban Development Department to amend its rules and send the plan to all the municipal corporations in Greater Mumbai, including new instructions.

To avoid traffic congestion due to illegal parking on the side of the road in the future, the civic body needs to start pay and park facilities on its open spaces as well as private societies and private open spaces.

Currently, parking violations and extortion rackets have been a persistent problem across Mumbai, particularly in high-traffic areas like Dadar, Andheri, CST and Bandra, where illegal parking agents pose as civic staff.