Here it is! It's done! You have become the proud owner of your own car. The first timid steps on the path of a city driver have been overcome, the starting line has been passed, and it was possible to get from the car dealership to the house. Here the lucky one can expect the first, but far from the last, unpleasant surprise - there is nowhere to park the car.
Clogged to capacity entrances and exits from courtyards, cars standing on sidewalks and curbs, closed approaches to shops and all sorts of institutions - everything that terribly annoys a pedestrian who briskly and quickly overcomes all obstacles on his own two feet, for the car owner - a nightmare and a real cause of daily stress. Regular parking can solve the problem. This is a specially equipped area for personal or company vehicles. In practice, residents of large cities only have to dream of their own parking space and leave their swallow near the round-the-clock liquor not far from their homes.
Where to be?
This questionwill torment the driver on the way from home to the destination every minute, and maybe even more often. It is good when the road leads to a shopping center, a supermarket or to work in an office center. In the predominant majority of such institutions, the ability to park a car not far from the building is a trump card and a way of self-promotion. Corporate parking is a kind of mark of a good organization. Not without reason in advertising brochures the availability of parking is always mentioned in the first place. But not everyone has personal parking for employees and guests, and if such a parking space appears, it may be inaccessible to a mere mortal, as it is intended for more privileged visitors.
So you have to circle the city streets again, squeeze the car between the expensive Lexus and the no less valuable BMW. If there is a place, there is no guarantee that parking is allowed there. You can take a chance and, returning with purchases from the store or with a receipt from the bank, find that the car was taken away by a tow truck.
What are the types of car parks?
The best option for the safety of your own funds, car and nerves will be to search for a special equipped parking lot. They are different, and recently there has been a good trend towards an increase in the number of such parking lots. In the parking lot, the method of payment for services, the time for which you can leave the car under supervision, as well as the principle of arranging parking spaces may differ.
For the sleeping areas of large cities, the most typical example of parking lotsground parking has become - this is a site fenced around the perimeter, which is guarded by a watchman and theoretically is responsible for the car when you put it there.
Why theoretically? Because to be sure of this, it is necessary to draw up an agreement that sets out the terms of cooperation, the actions of the parking administration in case of force majeure, the possibility of obtaining compensation, etc.
Underground parking is considered more modern and of better quality. In Russia in general and in Moscow in particular, there are not very many such parking lots, most often they are located under very large shopping and entertainment complexes or on the lower tiers of huge residential areas consisting of new buildings.
A huge plus that distinguishes such parking is that the car is in a dry, warm and ventilated room. In such parking lots, a high-quality video surveillance system is usually installed, thanks to which the risk of car theft and theft of personal belongings of drivers from the passenger compartment is significantly reduced. In addition, when such a parking lot is designed, a good capacity is initially laid in the basis. This makes it easy to find a good place to park.
You can leave transport not only for a couple of hours, but even for days and weeks. This is especially true for car parks located near train stations and airports.
Moscow parking, located on the upper floors (or on the roof) of buildings, can be similar in terms of arrangement and security. True, there are very few such parking lots in the capital, because theyrequire a special design of engineering structures, reinforced bases and floors of houses, special conveyors or tracks for cars.
Don't go to the fortuneteller
I am very pleased that the authorities are trying to improve the situation with traffic congestion, but it is unrealistic to solve this problem without arranging normal parking spaces. City officials predict by 2020 to solve the problem with the lack of parking. To do this, it is planned to create so-called interceptor parking lots, which will be located near metro stations and major road junctions. In addition, it was possible to significantly relieve the center of the capital due to the expansion of the real area of parking spaces.
It is noteworthy that there is a trend towards the establishment of modern and high-tech car parks. These are ground-based structures that occupy a very small area, but due to the compact arrangement of cars and their manufacturability, they can accommodate quite a lot of cars in one place.
The difficulty lies in the fact that such structures are borrowed abroad, and domestic legislation does not provide for this kind of parking.
Hard realities
The plans of statesmen always look great in theory and on paper, but when it comes to their implementation, this is where the real problems begin. It is no secret that the state budget is simply not able to solve all problems at the same time, and unloading the roads and sidewalks of the country is far from a priority task for officials, so one can only rely oninvestors.
Those who plan to open paid parking have to face a huge number of difficulties. Constantly changing legislation, the lack of prescribed terms and concepts in the basic laws, bureaucracy and paperwork do not allow setting up a profitable business, and car owners do not solve the problem of finding a home for their car.
If we don't go straight through, we'll go sideways…
A separate question that interests car owners: what kind of parking space in the parking lot are they supposed to? According to the rules, for the storage of one car in the parking lot, a section 5 m long and 2.5 m wide should be provided. The driver can easily place his iron horse in this framework, but in practice such a standard is rarely observed.
Parking lots, which are rented according to the issued documents, at least approximately, but observe such dimensions of the parking space, and spontaneous parking, street parking along the roads, and even more so courtyard areas are in complete chaos. Drivers have to poke the car into any more or less suitable place, but no one understands exactly how it stands. At least until the driver of a car parked nearby needs to drive off.
Super modern fundraising system
Residents of the Russian capital have a particularly hard time driving. Long traffic jams, lack of parking, chaos on the roads are the daily realities faced by drivers of private cars, public and special vehicles. In recent years, the problemI managed to solve a little. This became possible thanks to the Moscow Parking program.
Its essence lies in the fact that all parking spaces are systematized and streamlined, a competent parking payment system has been developed. Money for the service can be deposited in a variety of ways, ranging from Internet payments and SMS to the usual deposit of money through terminals and parking meters.
Of course, and there is a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey: the system crashes quite often, and sometimes developers solve problems for whole months. However, judging by the reports of the road services, it was still possible to unload the capital's traffic, and largely thanks to the Moscow parking system.