Parking Reform in Prague: Coalition Disagreements over Zone Parking Fees! Collected Money Will Be Reinvested into Parking

The Prague coalition Spolu (ODS, TOP 09, and KDU-ČSL), Pirates, and STAN have yet to agree on how much parking in the zones should cost after the upcoming rule changes. The only consensus so far is that the money collected from parking fees will be reinvested by the city to address parking problems. This was stated by councilor and chairman of the city council’s transport committee, Martin Sedeke (ODS), during a panel discussion organized by the Prague Chamber of Commerce (PHK) on Tuesday.

The rule changes being prepared by the city hall include, for example, city-wide parking cards for visitors, the option for residents to pay less for smaller permitted parking areas, and special permits for deliveries or caregivers. It also cancels transferable parking permits and free parking for electric vehicles.

“There is currently no agreement on what the price should be, but there is an agreed-upon process to determine it. There is a general consensus that all the money collected from parking fees will be reinvested back into parking. However, at this moment, no one can answer how much the price will be,” said Sedeke.

According to him, discussions about the price are premature, and the final proposal of changes needs to be prepared first. City officials created the first draft of the changes, which individual districts could comment on until January 30 this year. The city hall is now processing these comments and will prepare a document for expert groups to review. Only after that will the coalition discuss the document, Sedeke added.

Participants in the discussion agreed that parking is currently too cheap. Residents pay 1,200 CZK per year. According to councilor and former deputy mayor Adam Scheinherr (Praha sobě), parking fees should be 3,000 to 4,000 CZK annually to encourage some drivers to park elsewhere than on the street or to sell a second car. He noted that occupancy of underground garages in the city center is only about 50 percent because street parking costs the same as garage parking. Street parking should be about 30 percent more expensive, Scheinherr said.

How to address low enforcement of violations?

Miroslav Čadský, head of the city hall’s transport organization department, said another problem is the low enforcement of parking violations. Prague 1 councilor Vojtěch Ryvola (independent) agreed, pointing out that daily parking fees at meters are more expensive than fines.

Čadský suggested that a change in the law could help, shifting objective responsibility from the city to the driver. If the driver had to prove they did not park illegally, it would make it easier for the city to enforce fines. He said this system works abroad. Scheinherr added that another issue is that Technical Road Administration (TSK) control vehicles can only ticket cars parked illegally within zones, but if a car is parked incorrectly just outside the zone, they do not address it.

Paid parking zones were first introduced in their modern form in Prague 1 in 1996, where efforts to regulate traffic started as early as 1982. They later expanded and now operate mainly in the wider city center, and also under local regimes in Prague 13, 16, and 22. The city collects about half a billion CZK annually from parking fees.

The full article can be found on blesk.cz (March 26).