Parking spaces in Murnau: the municipality wants to avoid congestion

Created: 02/13/2022, 20:08

By: Roland Lory

Parking at Staffelsee: the parking area in the bay.

© Bartl

If the sun shows up, the day-trippers will come in greater numbers.

The Murnau market is therefore introducing a system to avoid overloading in certain parking spaces.

It is not yet clear whether the municipality will charge fees for areas in town that were previously free.

Murnau

- The consequences of the pandemic and the associated trend of spending holidays in Germany or at home with occasional excursions have also caused more car traffic in Murnau.

Consequence: On busy days, there were always bottlenecks at the car parks on Murnau Bay and Ramsachstrasse (biological station).

The Murnau market wants to react to this.

In order to avoid overloading, the two aforementioned parking areas are equipped with cameras that can be used to count the number of cars driving in and out.

After passing the sensor technology, a parking space is either deducted or added, depending on the entrance or exit.

This information is displayed in real time on digital display boards as well as in the excursion ticker Bayern and later in the Bayern Cloud.

"The whole thing works to the second," said Alexandra Thoni, head of Murnau Tourist Information, in the main management committee.

This means that both the day guest can find out about the current parking situation before the start of his excursion, and the guest who is already there can see this on the display boards.

Table locations not yet clarified

Where these will be is not fixed yet, but there are ideas: at the beginning of Seestrasse and Ramsachstrasse.

However, Josef Bierling (CSU) and Stephanie Neumeir-Schrank (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) asked where people should park when the area at the biological station is full.

An answer is still pending.

The main committee did not hear anything about the costs, but it said that the measure was 75 percent eligible for funding from the “Tourism in Bavaria – fit for the future” program.

The committee voted with one dissenting vote (Neumeir-Schrank) for the collection of real-time data at the Murnauer Bucht and Ramsachstrasse car parks.

The administration is instructed to obtain offers.

Mayor Rolf Beuting (ÖDP/Bürgerforum) sees the project in a larger context: the introduction of a parking guidance system.

This has been talked about for years.

The project was recently shelved for financial reasons.

In the main committee, the people's representatives not only spoke about the collection of real-time data, but also about parking fees.

These were changed on February 1, 2021.

Shortly thereafter, the pandemic began with the first lockdown or exit restriction, followed by another lockdown.

Many shops and restaurants had to close.

For this reason there was also less parking traffic in Murnau.

In many parking areas, the municipality recorded a significant drop in parking fees last year.

Only at the three amusement parks, where the tariffs were raised, did the income rise, in some cases significantly.

According to the administration, the declining revenues on many inner-city areas can also be seen in connection with 30 minutes of "free parking", as many get by with half an hour.

Debate about 30 minutes free parking

Michael Manlik, parliamentary group spokesman for the ÖDP/Citizens' Forum, complained that the parking meters at Staffelsee were "wrongly set" until autumn 2021.

From his point of view, it was also a "complete absurdity" that half an hour's free parking was introduced at the two bathing lakes.

"We have to abolish that." Because the regulation opens the "door and gate" for the "Schindluder".

He shares the opinion of the administration.

She explained that since the changeover she has been asked several times "that many people take advantage of the 30-minute free parking at the two lakes in order to save on parking fees".

People went to their vehicles every half hour and put in a newly purchased parking ticket for 0 euros.

"However, that was not the purpose of this introduction." CSU parliamentary group spokesman Rudolf Utzschneider lacked valid data on this point.

He advocated leaving the 30 free minutes at the two bathing lakes.

Phillip Zoepf, parliamentary group spokesman for More Movement, saw it the same way.

The administration presented other levers to generate more income: You could extend the parking time that is subject to a fee, also charge something on Sundays and public holidays, or make the parking area at the Froschhauser See subject to a fee all year round.

In addition, it would be possible to ask citizens to pay in parking lots in the center, where you can currently park your car for free.

"You don't have to shoot sparrows with cannons right away," said Beuting.

But he can imagine introducing a one-euro ticket at the folk festival parking lot.

Zoepf didn't get much out of the suggestion.

He sees the area as an area "for many commuters who need a parking space quickly in the morning".

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