The change in the status of two of the key buffer parking lots in Sofia - at the “James Boucher“ and “Vasil Levski Stadium“ metro stations, caused a wave of dissatisfaction among regular users. These parking lots will no longer operate under the “Park and Ride“ scheme, but will switch to a standard hourly and subscription mode, “Nova TV” reported.
Deputy Mayor for Transport Viktor Chaushev explained that the decision was made after establishing mass practices of circumventing the rules. According to him, many drivers bought public transport cards only to use free parking in the center, without actually using the services of the “Metropolitan“.
The new prices and the reaction of drivers
With the change in the regime, new subscription prices are also being introduced. For the parking lot at “James Boucher“, the monthly fee has been reduced from 184 euros to 140 euros, while for the one at the stadium the price remains 184 euros.
However, citizens are adamant that this is an attempt by the municipality to increase its revenues at the expense of those working in the center. Ekaterina Vitkova, who has been using the service for years, calculated on the air of “Hello, Bulgaria” that the real increase for honest users is huge.
“So far, for 35 leva per month for a metro card, we received free parking. Now they are asking us for 280 leva. This is a jump of 800% - eight times higher price.
The municipality is taking away a service from us instead of giving us a new one“,
she was outraged. She also questioned the lack of a transparent analysis of the number of violations, on the basis of which the decision was made.
The drivers suggest that the municipality should sanction only those who abuse it, by checking the license plates and their actual movements, instead of imposing a general increase in prices for everyone.
According to users, the measure will make many people give up on buffer parking lots, which will lead to even greater congestion in the “Green“ and “Blue“ zones in the center of Sofia.