Toruń. Parking lots worth over PLN 30 million are empty. Councilors want changes

The Park&Ride system is intended to reduce car traffic in the city center and strengthen public transport. It involves the driver leaving his car in the parking lot and continuing his journey by public transport at a favorable price. When checking tickets, it is enough to show the ticket obtained at the parking lot. All passengers of a given car can travel on such a ticket.

Read also: Bydgoszcz and Toruń focus on Park&Ride. “Late investments, others have already done it”

In Toruń, at the end of last year, two multi-storey car parks were opened at ul. Dziewulskiego and Olympic Streets. The investment cost approximately PLN 38 million. A total of 420 parking spaces are available. Parking lots are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The city has introduced four types of tickets: daily for PLN 6.8, family – PLN 11, monthly – PLN 98, tourist – PLN 45.

– This type of parking lots works well, for example, in Krakow. We hope that it will be similar in Toruń. We are limiting traffic in the Old Town, so parking lots will be a great alternative. In our country, buffer parking lots are designated, for example, on the occasion of the light festival and they are very popular – said Malwina Jeżewska, press secretary of the mayor of Toruń, some time ago.

The problem, however, is that both parking lots have been empty for seven months. Law and Justice councilors put forward a proposal to the president to change this.

“The construction of two Park&Ride car parks in the Rubinkowo Housing Estate at ul. Dziewulskiego 38 and in the Na Skarpie housing estate at ul. Olympicjska 42 cost over PLN 30 million. It has been 7 months since the opening, and after this period the filling of the space for parking vehicles is around 1 percent. Taking into account that the implementation period of the project co-financed from European funds through the Marshal's Office is 5 years, it is necessary to introduce fundamental changes in the vehicle parking system. It cannot be that parking lots built for over PLN 30 million will remain empty for a long time 5 years,” we read in the interpellation.

In the opinion of the councilors, “it is necessary to introduce solutions that will make the use of these parking lots attractive.” Which ones specifically?

“The introduction of free use or other solutions must lead to an increase in the use of available spaces. Please conduct a detailed legal analysis and contact the relevant institutions co-financing the construction of parking lots to enable changes to the parking operation system,” the councilors wrote.

Marcin Chmura from the Toruń Public Transport Fans Club admits that building this type of parking lots makes sense, but in a well-thought-out way to use the available space and possibilities. How can this be done?

– By using level 0 to locate a transfer hub with a good frequency of public transport. The upper floors can be allocated to residents of nearby housing estates and apartment blocks who do not have garages or whose cars are often parked on the roads under the blocks, making it difficult for emergency services to get there – claims Chmura. – On Olimpijska Street, it would have been possible to make better use of the construction of a parking lot with the integration of trams and buses within one building. In addition, regional buses could also be directed there – he claims.