The content of the article:
- Parking problem
- Ranking of countries with expensive parking
Going on a foreign trip by car or planning to rent a car on a trip, be sure to ask how much it costs to park the "iron horse" on the streets of the cities you plan to visit. After all, one way or another, parking will have to be used, and if you think that 350 rubles per hour for parking in the center of Moscow is a ceiling, then you are deeply mistaken ...
Parking problem
Perhaps someone will be surprised by this fact: according to statistics, the bulk of cars in cities 90% of their existence is standing, not driving. Naturally, in order for the car to stand, it needs some space.
The number of cars is growing steadily, and city streets are not rubber. As a result, in many cities, owning your own parking space provides almost more status than owning a car.
A century ago, such a problem as parking for a car could not even be thought of. But over time, this issue became a rather burning topic for discussion, and soon it turned into a serious problem altogether.
Back in 1928, at the "Conference of Cities" in the United States, it was said: "With the exception of talks about the weather, the most active discussion in US cities is the problem of parking spaces."
At that time, there were up to 400 cars per thousand inhabitants in American cities. By the mid-sixties, European countries came to this indicator, and now - Russian cities.
The abundance of parking lots in the city inevitably leads to the fact that its infrastructure becomes, as it were, torn apart, and problems arise for both motorists and pedestrians. How to solve the problem?
Reducing the number of cars is a utopia. The invention and implementation of all kinds of multi-storey car parks is an expensive issue (although this decision is likely to come sooner or later).
Initially, there was only one solution to the problem on the surface - to make parking paid. It is natural that the higher the density of cars per unit area of city streets, the higher the cost of a parking space.
Ranking of countries with expensive parking
1. Australia
Photo: car traffic in Melbourne
The country is not only one of the most remote from Europe, but also one of the most expensive. Prices here are really high for literally everything, and parking is no exception.
In one of the largest cities in the country - Sydney - about a quarter of all parking lots in the city are paid. If you convert Australian dollars into Russian rubles, an hour in the parking lot will cost the car owner up to 490 rubles.
In addition to the high cost of parking, parking fines in Australia are also severe. Anyone who tries to leave the parking lot without paying for it will face a fine of 7 thousand rubles. Parking a car at a place intended for transport of a disabled person will cost even more - 37 thousand rubles.
2. Japan
Photo: parking space at the house in Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun is another state where parking is, to put it mildly, an expensive pleasure. The streets of overcrowded metropolitan areas are literally crowded with transport, parking is in short supply.
Added to the high cost is the categorical limitation of parking time on the roadway - no longer than two hours. For each hour, the driver will be charged an amount equivalent to 450 rubles.
Japanese cities are not only crowded with cars, but also motorcycles and bicycles. The owners of these vehicles also pay money for parking. In general, the Japanese government is doing everything to reward citizens using public transport as much as possible.
However, the pragmatic Japanese also make exceptions to the rules - for example, for those who come to shop at the supermarket. If the driver proves with the help of checks that he has purchased goods in the supermarket for an amount more than specified in the rules, it is not he who will pay for the parking, but the supermarket.
On the issue of fines, the Japanese "outdid" the Australians: 12 thousand rubles for violation of parking rules is the average amount of punishment.
3. United Kingdom
Photo: parked cars near Kensington Park
An amazing coincidence, but the first three positions of the top are occupied by countries with left-hand traffic. Great Britain closes the top three.
Parking time on the streets of large English cities is also limited in time, except that the maximum interval is longer than in Japan - up to 4 hours.
Parking in England will cost up to 390 rubles per hour. In case of violation of the parking rules, you will have to pay a tidy sum from 7 to 10 thousand. In case your car is evacuated, the amount will increase to 20 thousand.
For those who decide to drive around the UK by car, there is another unpleasant moment. To drive a car around London, the car owner will have to fork out separately. Crossing the city limits costs about 13 British pounds, that is, a little more than a thousand rubles.
4.Russia
It would be strange if the capital of the Russian Federation did not climb into the top countries with the most expensive parking - Moscow is not a cheap metropolis in general, and the number of cars on the streets of the white stone is off scale.
The maximum cost of parking in the city center is 380 rubles. On weekends, parking also remains paid, but on holidays the car can be parked for free.
There is also a differentiated tariff, the value of which varies depending on the time of the day - at night, when the congestion of the streets drops, the cost of parking falls accordingly.
The administrative penalty for non-payment of parking is up to 7 thousand rubles for open parking lots and from 10 thousand rubles for closed parking lots.
5. Sweden
Photo: parking in Stockholm
The country of "victorious socialism" is known for its high taxes, but at the same time for its concern for its citizens. Clean, beautiful and safe cities are the calling card of this country. Perhaps the somewhat high cost of parking on the streets of these cities helps to keep the settlements clean and tidy.
Parking in the center of Stockholm costs about 350 rubles. To enter the capital of Sweden by car, you will need to pay up to 300 rubles, and this amount will be lower if you cross the city line at night or not during rush hour.
But the fines for violating the rules of parking a car are not too high here - the maximum is 9.2 thousand rubles.
6.Spain
Photo: parking in Barcelona
In this southern European country, the cost of one hour of parking within the city limits is a maximum of 300 rubles per hour. It is interesting that such a "ceiling" of prices is typical not for the capital, but for Barcelona.
In such large cities as Madrid or Seville, an hour of parking in a parking lot costs up to 220 rubles - compared to the same center of Moscow, it is quite a tolerable amount.
There are free parking lots on the outskirts of Spanish cities, with the exception of Barcelona and Madrid, where you can leave your car and change to public transport.
Fines for violation of parking rules are quite large here: the minimum amount is 15 thousand rubles.
7. Netherlands
Photo: parking in the center of Amsterdam
Another European country where there is very little parking space on the streets. Accordingly, to park the car, you will have to pay a lot: 360 rubles per hour of parking from nine in the morning until midnight.
Parking at night will be cheaper.There are also restrictions on the duration - a car can occupy a parking space no longer than two hours.
On weekends and holidays, parking remains paid from 12 noon until 4 am the next day. The minimum fine for unpaid parking or parking in the wrong place on the streets of Amsterdam is about 3 thousand rubles, but this amount can be up to 400 euros (28.4 thousand rubles) if you parked at a place designated for parking vehicles belonging to a disabled person ...
8. France
Photo: parking in Paris
The French capital boasts two parking rates. Parking on the territory from the first to the eleventh arrondissements of Paris costs 4 euros per hour (284 rubles), and from the twelfth to the twentieth - 2.5 euros (178 rubles).
Like many countries, the maximum time a car can be parked here is 2 hours. After two hours, the car can be taken out of the parking lot using a tow truck to the parking lot for offenders. If within two weeks the owner does not pay off the fine and does not take his car, they have the right to sell it.
In a number of settlements, there is a rule according to which parking is free on weekends and on holidays, as well as until 9 a.m. of the day following a weekend or holiday.
A year and a half ago, the French government passed a law increasing the fine for parking violations. The amount of the fine ranges from 17 to 375 euros (from 1.2 to 27 thousand rubles), depending on the severity of the violation. It is noteworthy that if the payment of the fine is delayed for more than a month and a half, the amount is automatically doubled.
9. Belgium
Photo: parked cars on a Brussels street
In the capital of Belgium, parking costs 2.1 euros (150 rubles) per hour. Parking is limited to two hours.
As in Spain, the government here is trying in every possible way to encourage tourists and guests of the capital to move not by their own cars or rented cars, but by affordable and high-quality public transport. There are very few parking spaces on the streets of the city, there are not enough parking zones.
The parking lots themselves are divided by type:
- red zone - the city center, areas of attractions and supermarkets. It has the highest cost and two-hour parking limit;
- orange zone - slightly less busy areas, slightly lower cost, but still the same two hours of limited time;
- green zone - sleeping areas, here car owners can park their cars "at their place of residence", but for "strangers" parking, again, is not free;
- blue zone - places that can be occupied at a strictly allotted time and only with a special parking disc;
- underground parking, where parking time is limited by the end of the working day.
In residential areas, the cost of parking should not be higher than 1 euro, but in the "red zone" the rate can be set at five euros - it all depends on the "demand" for the place and the proximity of attractions.
10. Austria
Photo: parked cars in Vienna
The capital of Austria, like Paris, differs in that there is a fixed price for paid parking, regardless of the area of the city. The tariff is 2 euros (142 rubles).
But the allowable parking duration depends on where you park: for districts from the first to the tenth and twentieth, the allowable parking time is 2 hours, for the less crowded districts from the eleventh to the nineteenth, 3 hours.
A parking space is paid here from the first minute of parking. True, there is good news: as a rule, all hotels have their own parking spaces at their disposal, and if not, at the reception you can always ask for the so-called parking ticket, which makes it possible to park the car in the parking lot with which the hotel has entered into a corresponding agreement.
The fine for not paying for parking is at least 36 euros or 2.5 thousand rubles, but if the car is taken away in a tow truck to the penalty area, this amount increases tenfold.
Vienna has an electronic parking management system, with which the driver can always determine the nearest parking lot or underground garage. This makes life much easier for those who travel around the city by car.
Conclusion
In the case of almost all major cities in the world, the parking situation is rather depressing than encouraging: the reorganization of urban infrastructure is clearly not keeping pace with the avalanche-like increase in cars on the streets.
No matter how hard governments try to encourage their citizens to switch to public transport, this process is going on, to put it mildly, "with a creak": it is difficult to prohibit a person from striving for comfort that a private car can provide. Therefore, most likely, the situation with paid parking in the near future will develop exclusively in the direction of increasing their cost.
Perhaps a new solution to the problem can be multi-level parking, but these are expensive projects, the implementation of which requires both money and time, which means that until car owners have no choice but to include in their budget ever larger amounts of money to have the right to park your car on a city street.
