Traffic and the environment
Environmental aid: resident parking in many cities too cheap
From 10 euros in Berlin to 360 euros in Bonn: The price range for residents parking cards is large in Germany. But from the perspective of German environmental aid in many places, parking is not expensive enough.
The fees for residents’ parking are too cheap in many major cities from the perspective of German Environmental Aid (DUH). “The place in our cities is becoming increasingly scarce because there are more and more and larger cars in Germany,” said the Federal Managing Director of the Environmental Organization, Jürgen Resch, the German Press Agency. “Nevertheless, many cities are spending public space at low prices.”
In Berlin, for example, the vignette for residents’ parking only costs 10.20 euros, as resulted in a survey by the DUH among more than 100 larger cities in Germany – per year. This does not even cover the administrative costs that the city arise from the issue of the ID. The situation is different in the former federal capital Bonn. 360 euros per year are due for drivers so that they can park their car near the apartment.
In 66 cities, resident parking costs a maximum of 31 euros
The minimum amount that the DUH demands for resident parking is also 360 euros. In some places, the fees have increased since the last survey of three years ago, the association said. “But still 66 cities only require 31 euros per year or less for a resident parking permit.” This also includes Munich as another city of the million.
In Cologne and Hamburg, however, parking is more expensive. According to the Duh vignette, the Hanseatic city demands 65 euros a year. In the Rhine metropolis, the price – as in Koblenz – depends on the size of the vehicle and is therefore between 100 and 120 euros.
The DUH interviewed a total of 107 cities for the investigation – including all major German cities and the five largest cities per state.
The more expensive, the sooner people climb around
The price for the resident parking card is considered a set screw for the turnover of the traffic: the higher the costs for your own car, the more likely people switch to the bike or local public transport (public transport), argue traffic researchers. “Higher parking fees are a necessary step for the mobility transition and for a fairer distribution of our public space,” says Resch.
In many cities, parking is clearly too cheap from the perspective of German environmental aid. In Düsseldorf, Bochum, Bielefeld, but also in the Brandenburg Oranienburg, the resident ID costs a maximum of 26 euros a year – the equivalent of 7 cents a day. An incentive to abolish the car does not arise. “It cannot be that a Germany ticket for bus and train costs almost 700 euros a year, while the parking space for the car in cities like Berlin is given away for 10 euros,” criticizes Resch.
Münster has recently increased significantly
The DUH names the city of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia as a positive example. Here, parking fees for residents have recently been increased significantly to around 260 euros per year. It is similarly expensive in Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg. At least 200 euros require Freiburg, Kaiserslautern, Ulm and Trier. In Frankfurt, 120 euros per year are due for residents’ parking.
The municipalities do not have the opportunity to set the parking fees themselves everywhere due to state regulations. The DUH determined that this applies to around a third of the cities surveyed. It therefore asks the federal states to give their municipalities more scope in the fee survey. Not only in Berlin, but also in Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland or Bavaria, the association misses a fee schedule that goes beyond the previous low upper limits there.
In the capital, the black and red government coalition is currently discussing a significant increase in parking fees. The CDU of the governing mayor Kai Wegner also emphasizes that 10.20 euros are clearly too little.
dpa
Source: Stern
