Petržalka, the largest of the 17 boroughs of Bratislava, is preparing for the launch of its pilot parking project that will give preference to local residents. Local councillors adopted the respective regulation at their session on Monday, September 9. Petržalka Mayor Ján Hrčka welcomed adoption of the document by an overwhelming majority, stressing that the real work on the project is still waiting for them.
“We have to mark the parking places and what we need, in particular, is good cooperation with the municipal police in order that the parking policy can be enforced,” said Hrčka, as cited by the TASR newswire. “Even perfect rules, if they are not enforceable, are useless.”

The borough will have 26,000 parking places reserved for local residents. The municipality will now begin to mark as many of them as possible in blue. However, it is beyond its powers, either in term of time or finances, to mark them all. Until the whole-city parking policy is launched in January 2021, it plans to mark 23,000.
“The more parking places that are marked, the more citizens with permanent residence in Petržalka will be preferred,” said Hrčka.
Petržalka will firstly start by regulating parking in the locality of Dvory, a buffer zone close to the Old Town, and gradually spread the project over the whole borough.
The new parking system will enable Petržalka residents to park in this borough free of charge, 24 hours, seven days per week. People without permanent residence will be able to park at marked parking places during the day, i.e. between 8:00 and 18:00, and during weekends, free of charge. Overnight, they will have to pay €1 per hour for parking at these places, or they will have to park elsewhere. This means that night parking may cost as much as €14.
All those using the parking areas, residents as well as non-residents, will have to register either electronically or by filling in a form. Car owners can start getting their cars registered as of October 1.
Petržalka council will also enable commuters, whom landlords refuse to register for permanent residence, to register for so-called administrative permanent residence and thus take advantage of free parking in the borough.
The parking fees can be paid via a mobile app, text message or a parking ticket.
The Petržalka pilot parking project will be in force until the whole-city parking policy becomes effective at the beginning of January 2021.
11. Sep 2019 at 12:56 | Compiled by Spectator staff