The Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, together with the Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council Tsvetomir Petrov and the municipal councilors from the group of “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria“ – Simeon Stavrev, Greti Stefanova, Dimitar Dimitrov and Dimitar Petrov, submitted a report with proposals for changes in the parking rules in Sofia. This was reported by the press center of the Sofia Municipality.
The proposals are the result of a survey conducted among citizens, in which 22,230 people from all parts of the city participated. This is the largest survey on the topic to date and provides a clear picture of the problems and expectations of Sofia residents.
Main conclusions from the survey:
- The most serious problem is the shortage of parking spaces, which forces people to waste time walking around or park far from their homes.
- Almost half of the participants support the introduction of a paid zone in Banishora, the southern neighborhoods to “Todor Kableshkov“ Blvd., as well as in Reduta, Geo Milev, Iztok and Izgrev.
- In existing green subzones (Center, Oborishte, Ivan Vazov, Lozenets, etc.) there is a desire to increase the price in order to reduce the load.
- Those living in the blue zone insist that it should also work in Sunday.
-80% of citizens believe that the business subscription should be limited.
Main proposals in the report:
-Expanding the green zone in the southern neighborhoods and in busy areas such as Banishora, Reduta, Geo Milev, Izgrev and Iztok.
-Converting part of the green subzones into blue.
-Unifying the working hours of the zones – from 8:30 to 20:30, including Sundays for the blue zone.
-Removing paper coupons and maintaining stay restrictions – up to 2 hours in blue and up to 4 hours in green zone.
-Update of prices (for the first time since 2012): blue zone – 4 BGN/hour, green zone – 2 BGN/hour.
-New distribution of parking revenues: part of the money collected for parking will remain in the Sofia Municipality for the construction of parking lots, sidewalks and infrastructure, and the rest - in the Center for Urban Mobility.
„This is the first important step towards fairer, more convenient and predictable parking in Sofia – "a system with clear rules, more free spaces and a guarantee that parking funds are returned to our neighborhoods in the form of investments in a better urban environment," said Mayor Vasil Terziev.
The mayor thanked all 22,230 citizens who participated in the survey, as well as the municipal councilors from the PP&DB group and the administration for their work on the consultation and preparation of the report.