Parking fees to rise 15-100 pc in Budapest!

Currently, there are 27 different parking zones in the Hungarian capital. The City Council plans to introduce a uniform system, which also means a significant price increase. The Wednesday session of the council can decide about a 15-90 pc in the downtown and 15-100 pc in the outer districts. Furthermore, in some districts, pay period will be longer.

Four zones, higher parking fees in Budapest

According to telex.hu, Budapest will create four different parking zones instead of the 27 existing today. In the A zone (downtown), the parking fee will be 600 HUF (1.5 EUR) per hour. In the B zone, we will pay 450 HUF, in the C zone 300 HUF, and in the D zone 200 HUF per hour (1.13 EUR, 0.75 EUR and 0.5 EUR).

New parking zones around Budapest / Source: Budapest.hu

In some areas, the price increase will not be that significant. For example, Belváros-Lipótváros (5th district) will be in the A zone. The parking fee today is 525 HUF per hour (1.31 EUR), which will rise to 600 HUF. However, in the inner parts of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th districts, the parking fee will increase from 440 HUF (1.10 EUR) per hour to 600. Moreover, we had to pay 350 HUF on the outer side of the Grand Boulevard before. That price may go up to 600 if the City Council agrees with the mayor’s proposal. On top of that, in some areas, the price increase is even more significant. In the Népszínház street, for example, the fee is now 265 HUF, which will grow to 600.

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In the B zone, the increase rates are similar. Today the average parking fee is 350 HUF per hour, which will grow to 450 HUF. But there are zones, for example, in the outer parts of the 13th district having 175 HUF (0.44 EUR) per hour fee today. Therefore, in some parts, the rise is above 100 pc, just like in the C zone. The D zone is small, consisting of the József Attila housing estate, where the tariff will rise from 175 HUF to 200 HUF per hour.

We will have to pay until 10 pm

To help locals find parking places, Budapest plans to extend

the deadline of pay time until 10 pm in the A zone, meaning the capital’s downtown.

In the B zone, we will have to pay until 8 pm, while in the C and D zones, the deadline will remain 6 pm.

The parking time will be also uniform in Budapest thanks to the changes. Until now, it depended on the district regulations. In some areas, we could park our car only for 3 hours, while in others, even for a day if we paid. If the City Council accepts the new proposal,

the limit will be uniform (3 hours) in the A, B and C zones.

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The local council said they planned to increase fees because they had been unchanged for ten years. Before, they could not introduce new rules because of the coronavirus and the epidemic emergency. Interestingly, the higher fees will probably not solve the problems of finding a parking place for the locals. That is because commuters occupy only 5-20 pc of the free places.

A solution could be if households received free or subsidized parking places for only two cars. The 13th district introduced a similar regulation in 2021, freeing up 8-9 pc of the parking places (approximately 2,000). However, the proposal the City Council will discuss on Wednesday does not modify the rules concerning residents.

Source: telex.hu, DNH