Parking, Oslo City Hall | Very critical NAF: – In one place people must have the car stopped

– The City Council’s policy is out of the question. They are increasingly adjusting car use, at the same time that they have become dependent on large income from motorists, says Camilla Ryste, communications manager for NAF.

The Oslo City Council announced a sharp price increase for parking on Tuesday. Prices for parking your own car on a public road, known as resident parking, will increase by as much as 50 percent. For owners of houses or apartments with this need, and who have a gasoline or diesel car, this means that the cost increases from 3,600 to 5,400 crowns a year.

The price increase has been announced in the Oslo budget, which was presented on Wednesday. Visiting ten residents, or others who park on public roads, should also expect a sharp price hike from 2021. At the same time, resident parking will be expanded to apply to larger parts of the city.

Also read: Milling Against Increased Parking Fees: – Very Antisocial

NAF believes that the policy works as a double punishment for residents who need a car.

– Raising the resident parking fee while removing many parking spaces in residential areas is perceived as unfair and a kind of double penalty. In one place, people have to have their car stopped when the city council wants it to be used. Although most people use public transport on business trips in cities, we need other types of trips in the afternoons, evenings, weekends and holidays, says Ryste.

– Take up valuable space

Councilor for the Environment and Transport Agency Lan Marie Berg told Nettavisen on Wednesday that the price increase is a social measure:

– The scheme is precisely a social tax, because it helps those who need space to park in the city, obtain space to park, and that we distribute the areas differently. The most important thing we can do for social equality in the transport sector is to make sure that it is the best possible to drive public transport, Lan Marie Berg told Nettavisen on Wednesday.

She defends the increase saying it should be more expensive to run a fossil car than it should be to run zero-emission cars.

– Now we increase the distance and generally make it a bit more expensive to have a car in Oslo, because they take up valuable space, Berg told Nettavisen on Wednesday.

Also read: The Oslo City Council will spend 361 million on bike lanes: – The City Council is blind

– This frustrates many

But the argument breaks down, Ryste says in NAF:

– Lan Marie Berg and the city council will receive more money from motorists to finance public transport and roads, at the same time that they will make it increasingly difficult and expensive to use the car to reduce traffic. It’s no wonder many are frustrated by the double signals from the city hall, says communications manager Camilla Ryste at NAF.

Hallstein Bjercke of the Liberal Party also believes that the proposal is antisocial:

– Yes, I think it seems to be a very unwise way to increase parking fees, because it makes it relatively more expensive for Oslo residents to park in Oslo than for commuters. Resident parking increased by 50 percent, while the city council increases overseas parking and hourly rates by 25 percent, Bjercke told Nettavisen on Wednesday.

Also read: Oslo City Council wants a ban on fossil cars in parts of Oslo

Ryste refers to the lifting of tolls ahead of the 2019 local elections as a sign that people are starting to get enough of these kinds of measures:

– These are people who have a daily commute that will increase, and that increasingly high taxes on the use of the car affect the family finances of many, says Ryste.