Tbilisi to Have Hourly Parking System from 2019
Mamuka Mumladze, Head of the Transport Department of Tbilisi, says that a new hourly parking system will be launched in the capital from January 2019.
The new system envisages dividing the city into zones and introducing new parking fees. At the first stage, the new parking system will be launched in two districts of Tbilisi: Old Tbilisi and Saburtalo.
Mumladze explained that hourly parking in Old Tbilisi will be effective from the City Assembly (Sakrebulo) building and include all the nearby streets to Zaarbruken Square and Amagleba Street.
In the Saburtalo district, hourly parking will be arranged on Shartava, Kostava, Pekini, Vazha-Pshavela, Kazbegi and Mitskevich streets.
The Head of Transport Department says the minimum price for parking per hour will be 0.20 GEL. He noted that the division of the city into zones and the introduction of a new tariff system do not envisage the cancellation of the existing 50 GEL annual parking fee.
"The price for residents will remain the same as now - 50 GEL per annum and 25 GEL for six months, but visitors will have to pay extra,” he stated.
Mumladze says there will be a special mobile application through which drivers will pay the hourly parking fee.
“The hourly parking fee will be paid by mobile. The fee will be calculated and cut from the mobile balance of the drivers. There are also places for hourly parking lots, where more than 200 additional Pay Boxes are needed, and we will announce a tender for them,” he said, noting that the distance from parking zones to pay boxes will not be more than 25 meters.
In mid-September, Vice-Mayor Irakli Khmaladze stated that the cost of parking will vary from district to district; however, he underlined that parking outside residential flats will be free for the people who live there.
He also added that the aim of the initiative is to promote public transport popularization, with public transport maintenance to be financed from income from the new parking scheme.
Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated last month that a new model of parking was being developed within the new transport policy.
By Thea Morrison
Image source: Wikipedia