Under 10 minutes - in that much time every car traveler in Sofia should be able to find a parking space in the ideal center of the capital, if the new reform of the municipality becomes a fact. This was stated in an interview with NOVA by the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev. This week marks two years since the mayor of the capital took office.
At this stage, do you consider the last big idea - the reform that came from the municipality, namely to increase the price of paid parking, as well as to expand the blue and green zones - to be a success or a failure?
"This is a reform that has been waiting for many years and is extremely necessary. To bring order to some of the neighborhoods, to relieve the pressure on the areas where there is already paid parking, to have additional resources to be able to invest in the urban environment. And for me this is the right step", Terziev commented on the plans for increasing the price of blue and green zones in the capital.
And he added: "Is it the ideal solution? No. I have never claimed that you can have an ideal solution. But for me it is a huge step in the right direction and in the fact that for the first time we have a clear connection between what we take from the citizens and what we give them".
In his words, the goal is within 10 minutes, or even less - "in 7-8 minutes, to be able to find a parking space in the ideal center of Sofia".
To the criticism that first we need to "fix the streets, build parking lots - and then raise prices", he replied: "I understand this argument, but there is a lot of practice that shows what are the effective ways to make things happen. Everywhere experience shows the same thing — that first we go through regulation and then we proceed to actively build parking lots and other needs that citizens have. This sounds extremely good for parking lots until we start doing the math. There are two questions. How much would this cost us? These are billions of euros — about 2.5 billion euros for these 100,000 cars that do not have parking spaces, in order to build parking lots. And not the complicated ones, the underground ones in the center, which are not clear how quickly they can be built due to cultural and historical heritage and other challenges. But we also have another problem — where they should be. Because this conflicts with the desire for the city to be green. It either has to be underground, which makes the bill even more expensive, or it has to be in a place that is currently a green area".
Terziev was categorical that he understands "the desire to have parking for every car and for everyone to have as many cars as they want". But he emphasized that this cannot be done without paying another bill, which is from one of the biggest resources of our city — greenery. "And this is something that we all have to protect", he said.
The mayor of Sofia highlighted the fact that "we have an exceptionally good metro". "In one of the latest rankings, it was ranked second in Europe, so for us the topic of its expansion is of utmost importance as the backbone of the transport system. Currently, 10 new metro stations are being built, a contractor for the extension along "Tsarina Ioanna" is about to be selected, and the design of the extension to Studentski Grad, which should be completed within a year, is also underway," he explained.
"In terms of coverage, I would say that public transport in Sofia is good. In terms of reliability, sometimes — not so much, and that is why we are working on the challenges that exist," he emphasized.
Terziev also explained how the price of the blue and green zones was chosen. "For the price, which has not been touched for 10-15 years - there is a clear economic justification, which is not related to the euro. And in terms of comparing the price per hour in the zone to the average income in the city — it is almost two times cheaper than when the zone was introduced", the mayor calculated.
He stated that the price of a public transport ticket will be rounded down when the euro is introduced. "It will be 80 euro cents and the prices of the cards will not be touched. No such changes are planned for next year".
On the topic of garbage, he was categorical that daily work is being done to ensure that people do not welcome the New Year with full garbage bins. "This is a top priority for us — to find a lasting solution. The most risky areas in this aspect, where the contracts for garbage collection expire on December 1, are Zone 3 - — “Poduyane“, “Izgrev“ and “Slatina“. The contract with the current company is ending and therefore an organization is being made together with the regional mayors, building on the experience of “Krasno Selo“ and “Lyulin“ - to move as smoothly as possible to having garbage collection,“ explained the mayor of Sofia.
Regarding the snow removal of the city in view of the upcoming winter season - Terziev was categorical that there are enough snowplows that will ensure the cleaning.
The mayor of Sofia also promised that the capital's Christmas decorations will be "better than last year".