If we want order and money for investments, the parking reform must happen. This was stated by Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev at a briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council (SOC), BTA reports.
Yesterday, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, together with the Chairman of the SOC Tsvetomir Petrov and the municipal councilors from "Continuing the Change – Democratic Bulgaria" Simeon Stavrev, Greti Stefanova, Dimitar Dimitrov and Dimitar Petrov submitted a report with proposals for changes in parking in the blue and green zones in Sofia.
The report envisages expanding the green zone in the southern neighborhoods and in areas such as "Banishora", "Reduta", "Geo Milev", "Izgrev" and "Iztok", as well as transforming some of the green subzones into blue ones. The working hours of the zones will be unified – from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., including Sundays for the blue zone.
Our proposal is also reasonable in terms of prices, commented the mayor of the capital. According to him, people, regardless of their social status, will never be happy about having their taxes, fees, and prices raised. Because everyone wants the lowest possible price, said the mayor. In this case, however, if we want to have order and money for investments, these reforms must be made, said Terziev.
Regarding the proposal to double the price for an annual vignette sticker for a blue zone from 150 BGN to 300 BGN, the mayor said that it is about 25 BGN per month or 3 BGN per day. In some zones, there are more vignette stickers than spaces, that is, we must have a way to balance this. What is the way - by raising the price. Our goal is to find a parking space within a few minutes. Our expectations are that with the price increase, the number of official subscriptions will decrease, which means more parking spaces for residents, the Sofia mayor argues his proposal.
In response to a question about why he does not support the proposal of "Save Sofia" for the introduction of a red zone for residents, Vasil Terziev said that according to the data from the survey conducted by the Sofia Municipality, in which 22,230 people have participated so far, they do not show any level of approval for such a measure at the moment from anyone. The red zone can always be included in a subsequent report. We have presented our view and we do not believe that this is the only possible solution, said the mayor.
He announced that in the next month the proposed parking reform is to be subject to public discussion. Everyone can give their opinion and suggestions, so that in the end the best decision is made. "I have absolutely no intention of persisting, but to listen very carefully to everything that is said. And to find the intersection point for sufficient support in the SOS", stated Vasil Terziev.