Pilot project: free parking in municipal car parks in the city centre at weekends from April
The pilot scheme, which allows free parking in municipal car parks in the city centre at weekends, will begin in April and initially last six months. This was announced today by Mayor Barbara Ludwig in her weekly press conference. The city council approved the administration's proposal with the budget in February.
"The aim is to further revitalise the city centre, increase its attractiveness and boost the number of visitors to retail and restaurants in the centre," says Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig. "The measure is an invitation to the people of Chemnitz as well as to visitors from the region." The aim is to find out whether this measure will help the city centre, with its many small shops in particular, to compete more effectively with shopping centres with free parking spaces or other shopping cities.
The regulation will apply from the Easter weekend until 2 October. From 5 p.m. on Fridays, parking in municipal car parks will be free of charge at weekends. The parking machines will be changed accordingly during these days. No money can be inserted during the parking-free periods. This means that a total of 1,700 parking spaces will be available free of charge from Friday afternoons.
The pilot scheme is limited to six months. The response will then be evaluated in the autumn, firstly by measuring the parking spaces and secondly by measuring pedestrian frequency. The results will then be incorporated into the parking space concept for the city centre commissioned by the city council.