Prague parking fees to double, transit pass up by a third

Prague's likely new mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN) wants to double the fee for residents' parking in the blue zones and raise the price of public transport passes by a third. A week after the election, the makeup of Prague's coalition is still unclear, but the first items on its agenda are already taking shape.

What Hlaváček is planning

Winner Petr Hlaváček (STAN) spoke about raising parking and transit pass prices even before the vote. Judging by the plans of potential partners, agreeing on such steps should be easy, whether the city ends up run only by STAN and the runner-up Spolu coalition or a third or fourth party joins them. Hlaváček has already said he will take this very proposal into coalition talks.

The idea, he says, is that the rising costs of running the city should be shared more or less equally by everyone. For residents, he proposed doubling the cost of parking and raising the price of public transport passes by a third.

What parking costs now

Blue zones in the wider centre of Prague appeared in 2015: locals began to pay and in return received spaces that no outsider is allowed to take. The fee has not changed since: today it is 1,200 crowns a year for parking across the whole district, or 600 crowns if a car owner makes do with a smaller zone near home. It was the same 11 years ago. Meanwhile, prices in Czechia have risen by 56 percent over that time (cumulative inflation for 2015–2025).

Under Hlaváček's plan, the fee would rise to 2,400 crowns a year. For comparison, garage space listings in Karlín currently ask around 3,000 crowns a month. In Amsterdam, a resident permit in the centre costs more than 600 euros a year, comes with no automatic entitlement and requires queuing, in the centre for up to two years.

A transit pass for almost 5,000 crowns

The annual pass (Lítačka) costs the same as in 1998, when it was 3,800 crowns. The price gradually rose to 4,750 crowns in 2008–2014, then, as a symbolic gesture (10 crowns a day), dropped to the current 3,650 crowns, and now, according to the plans, will go back up to around 5,000. Hlaváček himself says: “Voters understand that this price corresponds to a fairly distant period.”

It is not yet clear whether both proposals will pass. The new city leadership's first task is to answer the ANO movement's reproach left over from the campaign: Prague has enough money, it is “sitting” on 180 billion crowns in savings, so additional charges are unnecessary. The second is to show what the money will go to: a new metro line, an inner-city road artery and park-and-ride lots on the outskirts. If Praguers see real progress, they will forgive the price increases; if not, they will remember them at the next election.

Read also: Prague transport: a complete beginner's guide to the metro, trams, tickets and the PID Lítačka app

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz