Fees for parking for more than one hour on the 75 streets within Moscow's Boulevard Ring were raised by over 50 percent Monday in a move to ease congestion, the TASS news agency reported.
Starting Monday, drivers will have to pay 130 rubles ($2) instead of 80 rubles ($1.25) after the first hour of parking from the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, TASS reported, citing Maxim Liksutov, deputy mayor and head of the Moscow department of transport and road infrastructure.
The parking zones within the Boulevard Ring are currently at over 90 percent capacity at peak times, far above the recommended European maximum of 80 percent, according to experts from the Moscow State Automobile and Road Technical University.
The first experimental paid parking zone within the Boulevard Ring was set up in Moscow in November 2012. In December 2013 paid parking was expanded to the Garden Ring, and in 2014 up to the Third Ring Road. The current parking fare within the Garden Ring is 60 rubles ($0.93), and within the Third Ring Road is 40 rubles ($0.63).
The parking fare increase will apply to only 6.5 percent of the 45,000 available parking spaces in Moscow, TASS cited Liksutov as saying.
