Status: 12/19/2022 10:55 a.m
Since 2020, the upper limit for resident parking permits no longer applies. Since then, only very few cities have increased prices. The environmental aid speaks of an “absurd subsidization” and calls for an increase.
In mid-2020, the Bundestag and Bundesrat overturned a nationwide upper limit of EUR 30.70 per year for resident parking permits. In most German cities, however, residents can still park their cars for around 30 euros a year. “88 cities still charge only 8 cents or less per day for a resident parking permit – although two-thirds of these are authorized by their state government to set appropriate fees,” said the German Environmental Aid (DUH).
The DUH has listed the fees for resident parking in 104 cities, including all major cities and the five largest cities in each federal state. Only 13 of the cities surveyed have increased fees for resident parking permits since the federal and state governments made it possible. “This is an absurd subsidization of private cars at the expense of the climate-friendly mobility turnaround – and once again a kneel before the car lobby,” he said Jürgen Resch, Federal Director of the German Environmental Aid.
Higher fees for large vehicles?
The environmental aid calls for an increase in resident parking fees to at least one euro per day. “Significantly higher fees should be due for particularly large vehicles than for small cars,” according to the DUH in its evaluation. The revenue should therefore flow into the expansion of bus and train as well as cycle paths and sidewalks.
States and municipalities can regulate fees
Federal states and municipalities can regulate the fees for urban districts with a significant lack of parking space. The state governments can enact fee schedules for this purpose. Bavaria, Brandenburg, Bremen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have not yet made use of this option. According to the DUH, the upper limit of EUR 30.70 still applies here. “Hamburg has raised the fees – but so slightly that no steering effect is to be expected,” said environmental aid.
In the largest federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, only Neuss and Bonn have already decided on price increases among the major cities. A significant increase was discussed in Cologne, but according to the DUH, the decision was postponed.
Up to 1200 euros per year in Stockholm
In its request, environmental aid also refers to the fee schedules in other countries. In the Swedish capital Stockholm, for example, resident parking is extremely expensive. If you want to have a resident parking space in the city center around the old town Gamla Stan and in most of the wider city area, you have to pay 1100 Swedish kroner (around 100 euros) for it – per month. That’s around 1200 euros a year. In Riga and Amsterdam up to 1020 euros and 576 euros would be due.
Wide range of prices in German cities
“Big cities like Düsseldorf and Frankfurt am Main sell twelve square meters of public space for just 25 euros a year,” says Robin Kulpa, deputy head of traffic and air pollution control at the environmental organization. In order to protect the climate and “make our cities more liveable”, parking fees would have to be higher.
In Germany, the new regulations that have already been passed have created a wide range of prices in the various cities. While cities like Bochum (22 euros) remain well below the old upper price limit of 30.70 euros per year, drivers in Freiburg have to pay up to 480 euros per year. According to the DUH, the regulation of the city of Breisgau is “exemplary” because the fees there are based on the size of the car.