Car ownership in Panaji almost doubled in a decade. Every lane in the core is lined with parked cars, corners included, and public transport is banned from the narrow core streets. The fixes were often small and administrative, and that is where the work was.
A signage system for the city
A city signage policy and a five-year tender to remove old boards and install and maintain new ones: mandatory signs (parking, one-way, pedestrian), cautionary signs, and informatory signs for wayfinding. A freight signage pilot for the market marked loading and unloading bays, freight-only parking and directions, so delivery vans stop unloading in the road.
A road safety committee
Periodic road safety meetings brought the Corporation, police, KTC and citizens together on a mobility plan for the Kadamba bus stand, rationalising pavements, ferries and city buses. A bus stop safety map and letters to the traffic police followed, from congestion at the St Inez junction to double parking, which the Motor Vehicles Act already treats as illegal after three minutes.
Recommendations to the city
- Notify no-parking at all corners, where parked cars create blind spots and block crossings.
- Stop double parking on streets like 18th June Road.
- Turn unorganised street activity into defined spaces for parking, loading, vending and walking.
- Back it with towing and clamping, and with signboards so rules can be enforced.
