Policy
The goal of the parking policy
is to help create a vital city that combines quality of life and
accessibility. This is expressed in an
area-oriented approach that controls the total number of parking places
according to specific local circumstances / local parking capacity and
discourages ad hoc traffic.
Four tools will be used to reach
this goal:
-
Controlling the number of parking places
-
Relocating parking places
-
Adapting price and quality
-
Informing about vacant places (dynamic parking
system).
Parking places
The maximum number of parking
places will be determined by way of parking standards (steering policy). The current parking standards are coupled to
the prevailing location policy (A, B, and C locations for companies).
For instance at redevelopment
around the main railway station (within 600m) one applies a parking standard of
one parking place for 250 mē gross floor area or for ten employees. At places
without good public transport only 30% of the area can be used for offices and
the parking standard is one parking place for 90 mē gross floor area or for 3,6 employees.
Parking in the city centre
In the narrow streets in old
centres there is little room for both traffic and parking. Also for showing the
qualities of the centre to full advantage the parked cars have to disappear to
car parks.
In order to further reduce
street parking in the old city centre, car parks will be built on the eastern
side of the city centre. To this end, the
Parking Company for the Municipality of Utrecht (Parkeerbedrijf Gemeente Utrecht,
PGU) has been commissioned to determine a budget for building these car parks.
Paid parking
As space gets scarcer, parking
rates will rise. In Utrecht, rates
will be based on the so-called ‘shell’.
The rates will be highest in the city centre, and slightly lower in the
first and second shells around the centre.
For residents / licensees in the city centre, cost-price rates will
apply. However, this is not the case in
the shell, where an increase in rates is desired. In addition to the rate shells, a study has
started in a selected area within Utrecht so that
the municipality will be able to predict future parking problems. Within this area, parking will be monitored annually
and on the basis of the results paid parking rates will be prioritized.
Multi-modal interchanges
In the coming years, Utrecht will
develop a number of so-called ‘multi-modal interchanges’ on the outskirts of
the city. The idea is that motorists leave their car on the outskirts of the
city and continue their journey by public transport or by bicycle. Of course
the price for this has to be considerable lower than for parking in town.
In Utrecht are two
good working examples. On busy exhibition days in the centre people can leave
their cars at a free parking place near the highway and continue their journey
by free special buses. On the weekly shopping evening motorists can leave their
car for free at the car park at the football stadium and use a bus to the
centre (subsidised).
The multi-modal interchange in
the south is used for another purpose. Companies in the area use this as
additional parking spaces and they use small company buses for the rest of the
journey.
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