The city, the traffic and the cars: it is an open secret that more than half of the inner-city driving movements in Starnberg are caused by the people of Starnberg themselves. This factor alone would probably not be such a burden if drivers did not also prefer to park their cars on the side of the road. The parking pressure is enormous, especially since many drivers would rather circle the square five times in search of a free parking space than use one of the five underground car parks with around 720 parking spaces in the inner city area. Of course, one can philosophize about the reasons why people’s deep aversion to underground garages comes from. There is another simple reason why this situation in Starnberg is not counteracted by installing a modern, dynamic parking guidance system: the city’s coffers are empty. As in the past 25 years, it will remain with information signs for the time being.
The debate about a parking guidance system that shows drivers in the county seat where they can find a free space for their vehicle is certainly not new. City councilor Winfried Wobbe (UWG) brought the matter up on Monday in the finance committee. “Ludwig, you will remember,” said Wobbe to CSU colleague Jägerhuber, “we talked about it 25 years ago.” In fact, the lack of parking spaces in the city was already an issue in the mid-1990s, and the ADAC recommended a system that displays “free”, “occupied”, “closed” and even the number of free spaces. But the city council decided otherwise: simple information signs for 15,215 Deutschmarks seemed more appropriate. Only the district savings bank relies on a visual display. However, the underground car park is currently being renovated and the around 90 parking spaces are closed. In the years that followed, the purchase of a modern system was repeatedly discussed, but postponed year after year.
Nothing is likely to change in the short term. In view of the tight financial situation in the city, the committee decided on Monday “that the schedule for the planning and installation of the dynamic parking guidance system will be adjusted,” according to the draft resolution. In plain language: the planning planned for this year (20,000 euros) and the installation planned for 2023 (440,000 euros) will be postponed to 2024/25. Until then, the City Hall wants to talk to underground car park operators, members of the City Initiative and representatives of neighboring communities who have already had experience with parking guidance systems.