Status: 04/25/2022 10:32 a.m
Cars are getting longer, wider and heavier. But resident parking fees are around eight cents a day in most cities. Environmental aid is far too cheap. It demands significantly higher fees.
Anyone who parks near their home will soon have to pay significantly more – at least if the German Environmental Aid (DUH) has its way. The association demands from the federal states and cities that the fees for resident parking nationwide increase to at least 360 euros per year.
“Public space is scarce and increasingly contested,” says DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch. “Every year, the number of cars registered in Germany increases by half a million. At the same time, the cars registered are getting longer, wider and heavier. Nevertheless, residents in most cities are allowed to drive their huge SUVs and pick-ups for just eight cents block the public space every day.” According to the DUH, this is only a fraction of the fees charged in many cities abroad.
Many states and municipalities slowed down “reasonable fees” for resident parking – and with it the mobility turnaround. According to the DUH, fees should be so high that people who are not dependent on their car question their car ownership.
Environmental aid: 360 euros still cheap
The DUH therefore demands a parking fee for residents of at least one euro per day, for larger SUVs the fee should be significantly higher. “The comprehensive parking space management at reasonable prices is demonstrably an important tool to reduce the number of cars in cities,” explained the DUH officer for traffic and air pollution control, Robin Kulpa. Compared to the cost of bus and train tickets, a fee for resident parking permits of at least 360 euros per year is still low.
In mid-2020, the Bundestag and Bundesrat overturned a nationwide upper limit for resident parking permits of EUR 30.70 per year – since then, states and municipalities have been able to regulate the fees for urban districts with a significant lack of parking space. The state governments can enact fee schedules for this purpose.
“Reasonable charging” in five countries
A query by environmental aid revealed that only five states allowed local authorities to charge “reasonable fees” for residents’ parking permits. The state governments in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia would give the municipalities sufficient room for manoeuvre. The federal states of Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have not yet decided.
The regulation has already been adjusted in Hamburg, but the annual fee of EUR 65 is still unable to have any steering effect. In the capital Berlin, the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party states that by 2023 at the latest, the fees for the resident parking vignette should rise to 10 euros a month. A resident parking permit currently costs EUR 10.20 per year. In all other federal states, a new regulation of the parking fee ordinance is planned but not yet implemented, as a survey by the DUH showed.
The environmental aid sees regulations in Freiburg and Tübingen as role models. In Freiburg, an average fee of 360 euros per year is planned. According to the DUH, 480 euros per year are due for particularly large SUVs and pick-ups. Tübingen demands an annual fee that is 50 percent higher for particularly heavy “city tanks” than for small cars – namely 180 euros.