Kiev authorities are increasing the number of parking spots that should be paid for. The move is not welcome by the city residents who would like to be able to continue leaving cars on the streets without charge.

More paid parking in Kiev’s center is not a welcome move for residents

In the majority of European capitals it’s hard to find a parking spot in the city center that is available for free and without time limits. But in Kiev it is only now the authorities are taking control of this potential revenue stream.

Dmitry Davtyan, the vice head of the Kiev’s state administration, stated that 1,270 parking spots have been recently marked as paid in 19 areas, Fina.

The administration plans to add further 8,000 paid parking places by the end of 2018. The proposal needs to get the approval from the local council to get the green light.

Many new paid parking spots are marked on roads, Alexey Beloshitskij from the transport police explained. The city council and transport police work together while allocating potential areas suitable for paid parking.

But local drivers aren’t happy. Not only they have to form out extra cash to leave a car close by, but in some cases new spots are located too close to the traffic lights, drivers complained. This creates an obstruction near busy crossings and causes further delays, drivers point out.

Unloading the center

Previously we reported about plans of the city administration to close the city center for transit by motor vehicles. At the moment, many heavy vehicles choose to cross the city via the center creating more load on local roads.

Foreigners usually use public transport and taxis when visit Ukraine, although some Europeans choose to drive through the country. But the availability of cheap flights from Europe and affordable costs of local transportation make it easy to fly in and then simply hire a taxi or Uber to get around. Overseas visitors from the USA or Australia also rarely hire cars, preferring to relax and allow someone else to drive.

Since June 2017 Ukrainian women and men are able to travel to the countries of European Union without visas. Similar privilege was given earlier to citizens of Georgia, another republic of the former USSR.

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