Parking reserved for Merev Michaeli.
Tel Aviv (Photo: Yotam Ronan)
Will the local authorities throughout the country "pay" a price because of the whim of the Tel Aviv municipality to double the parking rates for non-residents?
The Knesset's Economic Committee, chaired by MK David Bitan, discussed yesterday the cancellation of the supervision of the maximum parking price in the local authorities and the decision of the Tel Aviv Municipality to double the price of parking in blue and white for non-residents entering the city. Committee Chairman Bitan opened by saying that the decision of the Tel Aviv
Municipality Doubling the price of parking for non-residents is not reasonable, and if the municipality of Tel Aviv does not back down, the law that allowed the authorities to raise parking rates independently will be repealed.
Ofir Cohen, Tel Aviv: demand regulators (photo: Knesset Spokesperson, Noam Moshkowitz)
The director of the Traffic and Parking Authority in the Tel Aviv Municipality, Ofir Cohen, said that the city has 340,000 parking spaces, which is not enough, and that the parking crisis will not be solved by adding parking spaces, but by charging a realistic price.
To the question of Chairman Bitan and MK Shalom Dino, why was the price doubled?
Cohen replied that the expected revenue from the rate increase is less than 0.3% of the municipality's budget and repeated that the idea was to regulate demand.
He added that the price of parking in the public parking lots will not increase.
"We have 340,000 parking spaces in the city, the most in the country, of course, and that is not enough. The number of parking spaces in the city is increasing, we are adding public parking lots at highly subsidized prices, and that's a good thing. The city is in the works of the light rail and the fast lanes. We believe that with all due respect , the parking crisis will never be solved by adding parking, but by managing the resource correctly by charging a more realistic price. The price today is highly subsidized. The expected revenue from increasing parking rates is less than 0.3% of the municipality's budget. The story is to manage the resource that is in short supply." .
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Bitan: "Don't educate us" (Photo: Knesset spokeswoman, Noam Moskovitz)
In response to these words, committee chairman Bitan said: "Then why don't you raise the rate to NIS 50 an hour?
Is the parking yours?
This is the reason for blue and white - so that a person who has a shop does not come and park all day.
That was the goal, to regulate.
The parking lots do not belong to the mayor's father."
Further Bitan said: "Doubling the parking rates in one fell swoop for foreign residents does not seem reasonable or ethical to us. We oppose it. If you claim to educate the residents not to enter Tel Aviv, you are not telling the truth, because you do want them to enter Tel Aviv All the businesses in the city come from those who enter it, businesses, offices and commerce. So don't teach us and educate us yes to enter or not to enter. The Ministry of Finance wants to make a congestion tax and argue about a payment of NIS 25, and you two hours charge 25 NIS an hour in blue and white? No parking in parking lots , but in blue and white. There are two options: either you go back to what you were, or we cancel the authority of the municipalities to raise rates as it was before, only with the approval of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Transportation. Give us an answer within a week if you return the situation to the way it was - NIS 6.70 per hour, If not, we'll know what to do."
The source of the rate increase
At the beginning of the month, the Tel Aviv Municipality announced that in about a month and a half the price of parking in the "blue and white" parking lot in the city center will be doubled, from NIS 6.70 per hour to NIS 12 per hour.
This increase will not apply to those who own a municipal parking lot in Tel Aviv.
The decision of the Tel Aviv Municipality to double the price of parking is possible following the "parking reform" passed by the previous government as part of the Arrangements Law.
The reform allowed the local authorities for the first time to raise the price of parking independently, without obtaining approval from the Ministry of the Interior and Transport, among other things with the aim of reducing the use of private cars in city centers and encouraging the use of public transport.
Director of Planning and Infrastructure at the Ministry of Transportation, Shai Kedem, told the committee that the intention was to manage demand and allow the authorities to set a rate that would reflect the cost of the parking resource.
Kedem also said that, unfortunately, the provision that states that the difference between the cost of parking for a resident and the cost for a non-resident will not exceed 30% will only come into effect in 2025.
"In the end, you have to understand that you have to create a balance, maybe what happened here is a departure from balance and we will look at how to handle it."
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Tel Aviv Jaffa
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