Tilburg residents want to introduce paid parking in their own street: ‘There is never room for us’

You pay for a parking space in almost the entire ring area of ​​Tilburg. But parking is still free on five blocks on the east side of town. And visitors are only too happy to enjoy it.

Rollback

Residents who have trouble finding a place in their own street are now demanding paid parking. “We have to walk around in the evenings in the hope of finding a place,” the two residents told EditieNL. And these circles are getting bigger and bigger,” he says. “And if we park outside empty streets, the meter must be on. We do not ask permission for these areas.” They argue for paid parking in their own street, so that they can apply for the permit themselves.

Traffic expert Marco van Burgsteden of the CROW information institute explains that the cause of the problem is the introduction of paid parking near the center. “When you designate an area for it, you also have to think about what the travel area will be.”

Preventing residents from being affected can be tricky, but there are options. “You can solve this with permissions, for example. Or simply by bringing paid parking there.”

paid parking

Paid parking in the Netherlands has increased by 33% in the past ten years. This results in major savings for municipalities. In 2017 they collected a total of 760 million euros in parking money, last year this was more than 1 billion euros.

Source: Spotzi/CBS

According to Van Burgsteden, it is not surprising that parking regulations apply in more and more places in the Netherlands. “Parking is rare: it is about twelve square meters per spot and then all the space needed to drive in and out. This field is not available in all cities.”

cost photo

The state also bears the cost of these parking lots. “Parking fees can be used to close loopholes and to pay, for example, law enforcement officers, who have to check that everyone is following the rules.” And paid parking has even more advantages. “It also increases throughput. People don’t keep a place busy for long.”

Free parking does not have these advantages. The traffic expert said: ‘I don’t think it belongs to that era anymore. “Although the retail sector disagrees,” he said. “It encourages car ownership, while it is better to use the car less for short distances in the city.”

second car

According to him, parking costs money, but people also think more about car owners. “Many people have a second car and research shows that it is stationary a lot. If there are fewer parking spaces, it becomes less attractive to hold on to that second car.” With new construction, this is taken into account more by limiting the number of parking spaces.

municipality of Tilburg

The municipality of Tilburg has announced that residents have a full say in the development of plans for paid parking. The parking system will be evaluated in December.