Vienna and Bratislava meet for another round of expert talks about urban parking

In 2023, a delegation from the City of Bratislava visited Vienna to discuss the supervision of on-street parking. On 8 October 2024, a third meeting on this subject was held in Bratislava, during which experts from the Vienna Municipal Department for the Supervision of On-Street Parking (MA 67) visited the Slovakian capital and exchanged knowledge and experiences with their Slovakian counterparts, as well as representatives from the company that is in charge of the current Bratislava parking system (MPS).

For their first meeting, the Viennese delegation visited the Bratislava municipal department for parking, where the experts held a presentation to inform the Viennese delegation on the current situation of the Bratislava parking policy. After this introduction to the history and current organisation of the Bratislava parking-space management, experts from both cities gathered for a lively discussion about various particularities of the Slovakian capital's parking-space management and their regional parking system (PAAS).

Among the subjects discussed were the PAAS mobile phone app and app-related issues, such as data privacy. The experts also debated the visitor's parking permit, which would allow guests to park in the city to visit local residents. This is also frequently requested in Vienna. At the meeting, the experts also identified differences in their respective parking policies. In Bratislava, parking permits are only issued in electronic form, while in Vienna they are available in electronic form or in the form of paper slips.

In Bratislava, the revenue created by the parking-space management is used to construct parking garages, which are owned by the city. In Vienna, parking garages are constructed and managed by the private sector. A challenge that both cities have to face, however, are disturbances caused by drivers using their hazard lights and stopping their cars in places where it is illegal to park or stop.

On-site inspection of Bratislava parking space monitoring

Following their exchange of expertise with their Slovakian colleagues, the delegation from Vienna visited the Slovak National Uprising Square for an on-site inspection of the parking space monitoring by the MPS and the city police department. This allowed the visitors to observe the issuing of parking fine tickets and the disablement of a car with foreign number plates by means of a parking clamp. Wrongly parked cars with foreign number plates also pose a problem in Vienna because the parking fines are difficult to enforce. Another problem shared by both cities are broken-down and inoperable cars. But in contrast to Bratislava, the City of Vienna can either scrap or auction the cars, once the owners have given up their ownership or after a certain period of time has passed.

After their visit to the Slovak National Uprising Square, the delegation stopped at the newly-built customer service center of the PAAS city parking system and gained insights on the management of parking permit registration. Their last stop was at the MPS central for an introduction to the company's corporate activity, and the delegation was able to witness the ongoing call center activity, the surveillance of parking space, management of parking garages and spaces in the city, as well as the city's car towing service.