Parking in the city centre will, after many years, once again be under control of the city

As of August 2023, the city will take over the management of parking spaces in the city centre, which has been operated by BPS PARK a.s. for the last seventeen years, on the basis of contentious past contracts. In 2020, the city filed a lawsuit and we now know the legal opinion of the court, as expressed in a preliminary legal assessment, that the city’s contract with BPS PARK is non-valid. The contracts of BPS PARK a.s. with the city and the city district entail approximately 3,000 parking spaces in the city centre. They will become part of the new central regulated parking zone PAAS Centrum - Panenská, SM0. At the May meeting, the members of the City Council approved a generally binding regulation that divides the Old Town into different zones of regulated parking, including the new central zone SMO.

“A strong city must be able to deal with complicated legacies from the past. Previous city and city district administrations have not been able to deal with these contracts. The business model was profitable for the private operator, but highly disadvantageous for the city and the city district. While the operator had to pay the city and the city district a total of approximately €567,000 last year, its total revenue from the parking operation in the centre of our city for 2022 is estimated at approximately €3 million. I am, therefore, very happy that, after many years, we will have the parking in the city centre under control and in our own hands,” says Mayor Vallo.

The contracts of BPS PARK a.s. with the city and the city district entail approximately 3,000 parking spaces in the city centre, which will become part of the new zone - SM0 – to be bordered by the waterfront and the streets Palisády, Dostojevského rad and Ulica 29. augusta. In total, there will be 3,600 parking spaces, which will also include parking spaces currently directly operated by the city district (e.g. on Panenská Street). After introducing the new zone, the uniform rules of the PAAS system, which is already in force in five city districts and will gradually be extended as a uniform system elsewhere in Bratislava, will apply. The income from parking regulation, which for many years has been the income of a private company, will now go into the city and city district budgets and will all be re-invested into our streets to serve the needs of the residents. In addition, by taking parking regulation into its own hands, the city will be better able to respond to suggestions from zone residents, for example, by adjusting the regulation time according to the zone's occupancy. We will communicate the precise timing of the zone's inclusion in the PAAS regulated parking system well in advance of the launch of the zone.

“Many residents know how the parking situation around the historic centre has long been difficult and complicated. BPS did nothing to protect the residents. The controversial BPS contracts have also been criticised by the Anti-trust Authority. I am very pleased that the detailed rules of the zone will finally be in the hands of the city and the city district. I believe that, in close cooperation with the city, parking for residents will now be seamless and set reasonably after so many years. Not just on weekdays and not just into the evening hours, but according to the actual occupancy of the streets and the needs of its residents,” adds Matej Vagač, Old Town Mayor.

The new central zone in practice

The city and the city district will aim for as smooth a transition as possible to the PAAS regulated parking system in the new central zone. BPS PARK resident cards will expire upon the launch of the PAAS zone. In the case of BPS PARK resident cards valid beyond August 2023, the city district will compensate the unused period with an aliquot amount. Similarly, we will allow the dedicated parking spaces reserved by residents and others to expire based on their contract with BPS PARK, after reporting these spaces to one of our client locations. We will not accept new contracts for dedicated parking spaces with BPS PARK with a closing date after 25 May 2023 and will - as in other PAAS zones - reserve parking spaces for disabled persons only. We will provide information on the exact reporting procedure for existing dedicated parking spaces in the coming days.

We will publish all important information at PAAS ↗︎

Changes in PAAS to benefit residents

The City Council also approved other important changes related to PAAS. Along with the proposed new zones in the various city districts, which will be launched over the coming years, we have also adopted changes to the General Binding Ordinance that bring several improvements to PAAS. For example, the draft changes will create the conditions for the introduction of SMS payment of parking fees, for the expansion of payment options that currently consist of parking meters, mobile apps and payment of parking fees at a partner facility or at a parking assistant.

We are lifting the restriction of one resident card per person. Now, all three resident cards per flat will also be issuable to one person. This removes the unnecessary administrative burden of having to re-register vehicles between members of the same household.

We have also tried to accommodate vulnerable groups of residents and, in consultation with social service providers, we are increasing the number of visiting hours for social and healthcare recipients to 750 hours per year. We are also introducing the opportunity for registered social service providers to obtain a discount parking card which will entitle them to a 90% discount on hourly parking fees. The aim is to facilitate the provision of social services to people who are dependent on home care.

The maximum vehicle length limit for issuing a resident card will also change, from the current 5.3 metres to 5.4 metres. This is in response to residents who, for example, use longer family vehicles and do not currently fit within the limit. We have also reviewed the price of the resident card in the more expensive zones (tariff zones A-C), where we are proposing to reduce it by 20% to make it more affordable, for example, for smaller businesses in the regulated zone.

We have received a number of suggestions from residents when commenting on the changes to the ordinance, some of which we have incorporated - for example, increasing the number of visitor hours for people who don't own a car (from 150 to 200 hours per year) or parking motorcycles in PAAS zones free of charge.

These changes will come into effect gradually (most from 1 July 2023) and we will implement them in the PAAS regulated parking system so that the system best serves residents in both the old and new zones, which will soon also include the city centre.