💬 Footpath near the Koti market is now a bike parking lot

The footpath outside the main market area in Koti has turned into a parking lot for scooters. Rows of two wheelers stand on it, so people have to walk on the road to get past. That road has buses and autos going by all day, and nobody there slows down for walkers. It's been like this for months, but I think it got worse in the last few weeks. Yesterday I saw a woman with a baby stroller step out into the traffic to go around a row of scooters. An auto honked at her. She didn't even turn her head, she was too busy holding the stroller. Older people and women with shopping bags seem to struggle the most. I saw an uncle hold the wall. More vendors have put up small stalls nearby, so the footpath gets crowded even before the parking. There's a proper parking area a little further down the road, and it stays mostly empty. I think people just want to park right outside the shop they're going to, even for 5 minutes. A traffic constable stands near the signal sometimes, but he looks only at the road traffic. The footpath is clearly not his problem. The worst time is between 6 and 8 in the evening. A few weeks ago I wrote to the ward office through their online portal about all this. I got an automatic reply saying it was received, and nothing else has happened since then. Maybe it needs photos, or maybe it's too small a problem for them to bother about. If you got a footpath cleared in another part of the city, tell me how. I will try it.

LLMR's idea of naming the footpath problem clearly in the letter is a good one. I'd add the time as well, evenings between 6 and 8, as the first post said. Then whoever reads it knows exactly when to send someone and doesn't check at noon.

Deccan's point about the vendors reminded me of a market I know in another part of town. They marked a small vendor zone along one side of a wide footpath with paint. The rest stayed free for walking, and the vendors had a place that was theirs. It might work at Koti too, if the ward office is willing to try it.

I tried the photos and the towing number together near another market last month. On the call I said at the start that I already had pictures ready to send. It felt like they took me more seriously than when I only described the problem. So maybe mention the photos at the start of the call, not only if they ask.

This thread has turned into a useful list of things to try, I think. There's Yasmeen's towing number, Patel's photos with timestamps, and LLMR's advice to name the footpath problem clearly. If I were the original poster I'd put all 3 into one fresh complaint. It has to work better than the automatic message you got the first time around.

There's also a bus stop right near that same stretch, if I remember it correctly. So people getting off a bus step straight into those parked two wheelers.

Patel's point about photos with timestamps is a good reminder for the Koti complaint. From the first post it looks like it went in as plain text on the automatic portal. It might be worth sending it again, this time with photos and the time of day. Then you can see if a real person replies this time instead of another automatic message.

Attaching actual photos with exact timestamps made a real difference for a similar footpath complaint I filed last year, the ward office apparently needs visual proof before dispatching anyone to verify a complaint themselves. A written description alone seemed to just sit there, but the same complaint with photos attached got a site visit within about ten days after that.

The constable only focusing on road traffic and not footpath parking makes sense given how their priorities are probably set, but might be worth requesting footpath enforcement during a written complaint rather than assuming it falls under their existing duties automatically. Sometimes just naming the exact enforcement gap explicitly gets a different response than a general complaint about parking overall.

Part of me also wonders if the vendors setting up nearby are dealing with the same lack of designated space that drivers are, pushing carts and stalls onto whatever room is left just like the two wheelers are doing with parking.

Yasmeen's towing number idea is new to me, I always thought footpaths were a ward office matter. I assumed parking on a footpath wasn't a road offence in the usual sense. Next time I'll try that number first instead of the portal, which went nowhere for us.

Near another market I once got footpath parking cleared by calling the traffic police towing number. I tried the ward portal first and it went nowhere, like yours did. It took me 3 phone calls before someone came, so don't give up after the first. Maybe try that number before another online complaint, and say clearly that it's blocking the walkway.

That bit about the woman with a stroller stepping into moving traffic is exactly the kind of thing that should force quicker action but somehow never does until an actual accident happens first.

Same exact pattern near a market close to where I work, there is an actual paid parking lot barely fifty meters away that is maybe half full most days while the footpath right outside stays completely packed with two wheelers.