Residents see the effect of the new restriction: cars that have not been seen before in apartment buildings

Shopping will travel more frequently

According to Kristina, who lives in Panevėžys on Vilniaus Street, on Fridays and weekends J. Basanavičiaus and Ukmergės streets are so crowded that traffic jams extend to Aukštaičių Street. As of now, on Ukmergės street, near the Maxima shopping center, only 20 percent remain. parking spaces, store visitors, or market cars will line the already narrow courtyards of apartment buildings.

“People are now walking around supermarkets until they find a place to park. The only way out: build in the courtyards of apartment buildings. Its residents will have to cycle through their homes, ”said Kristina de Panevėžys.

She currently visits the mall once a week herself. If the car is not accessible, you will have to walk on foot. Then visits to the mall will be much more frequent.

“Now there is only one family member available at the grocery store. Is it like me, a woman, to bring home two huge bags of food and ten more pounds of dog food? So I’ll go more often and buy just what that I can bear. This forces people to visit grocery stores more often. What is the value of all these bans and restrictions? “Kristina asked rhetorically.

Suffering apartment buildings

Mindaugas Raišys, president of the owners’ association of the third house on J. Basanavičiaus street, which has been fighting with people who are building cars in the courtyard of the apartment building for several years, said that on Wednesday morning the residents felt the consequences of the new restrictions. Until then, invisible cars were lined up even where construction was prohibited, so garbage trucks were unable to empty garbage containers. Residents fear that there will soon be no space in their own backyard.

“The parking lot in the yard was already a bit fixed. Now much less people come to the market. In the cold season, when there is no fresh harvest, people prefer supermarkets. So we no longer have that problem. But already on Wednesday morning tomorrow I saw again that the scenario repeats itself ”, said the president of the house.

According to him, in such cases it is quite difficult to summon police officers – requested patrol patrols from the courtyards of the apartment building are very reluctant.

“If we see that a person has parked the car in order, we don’t tell him anything, but when the entrances are maliciously blocked, there is nothing left but to call the agents. To be honest, I don’t understand what to park in the parking lots. They will now be lined up in several rows in the courtyards of apartment buildings, off the streets. Not only will this pose a threat to road safety, it will also be much more difficult to maintain the required distances. What is the point of pushing people towards the already small courtyards of apartment buildings? ”Said M. Raišys.

Cars are replaced by pallets

Ernesta Dapkienė, director of the Department of Communication and Image of the Maxima retail chain, admits that the implementation of some of the requirements and recommendations of the Government has caused great difficulties in such a short time. As of Wednesday, parking spaces at all Maxima stores, as well as other supermarkets, are severely restricted. As required by the government, only 20 percent is left to buyers. parking spaces.

During the night, special stalls were set up restricting parking near shops in the largest cities of Lithuania. In some places, these barriers were replaced by wooden pallets, lined shopping carts or STOP strips.

“We are sorry, but we do not have any legal leverage to ensure or control that people do not park in the yards of apartment buildings in the neighborhood of their auto shops. The government’s stricter quarantine conditions apply not only to shoppers but also shoppers. There is a government recommendation that only one family member go shopping. One of the tips for shoppers: visit the store one by one and ask other family members to come with the car just to pick up the purchases ”, suggests E. Dapkienė.

In the stores of this network, the flow of buyers will be additionally limited by shopping carts and carts as of Wednesday.

“There will be as many baskets or carts as people can visit the store at the same time. The shopper will have to pick up a disinfected shopping cart,” said E. Dapkienė.

Scratch the neighbors’ machines

Vaida Budrienė, communications director for Palink company, which runs Iki supermarkets, also says that the shopping center’s parking lots used to park cars in nearby apartment buildings.

“The parking spaces in many of our stores are unregulated, with cars parked by residents of the surrounding houses. You have to negotiate with them to get your cars. Also, there are store sites that we do not even manage,” said V. Budrienė .

In his view, those who visited the stores less often will suffer the most now.

While these restrictions are intended to keep people away from stores as little as possible, they do not take into account that residents of rural areas and smaller cities are still unable to use the home order service.

“Not everyone has the opportunity to buy food online, this service does not work in smaller cities. Such residents will face challenges finding a place to park their car near stores. In many countries, for example, in the German car parks, on the contrary, taxes have been eliminated so that as many people as possible come by car, buy in large quantities and therefore go to the store less frequently, do not use public transport ”, said V Budrienė.

Another way to regulate customer flows is through carts or baskets. For example, if the area of ​​the store is 1000 square meters. m, shopping baskets and carts will be 66.

“We urge shoppers to plan their purchases in advance, to make a clear list of the foods they will need. If there are more shoppers than allowed, we urge them to arm themselves and wait a bit,” the spokeswoman said.

The restriction is incomprehensible

And Miglė Gruzdenė, the manager of the Vasaris shopping center, said they would not need to barricade their parking lot with pallets or shopping carts, because in both 2017 and 2019. A study in 2006 revealed that up to 70 percent of their sites and, therefore, they are occupied by residents of the surrounding apartment buildings.

“The decision to leave 20 percent on sites. Places that we don’t really understand. After all, customer flows are not generated in parking lots, but in stores. But here there are no big problems either. If during the quarantine spring still had to remind buyers that it is important to wear a mask, disinfect their hands and keep their distance, now and without reminders people follow all the recommendations “, says M. Gruzdenė.