Race for parking hots up in city

Finding reasonably-priced parking in Cape Town is not easy. In the city centre, where it costs R8.20 to park for an hour, there are daily arguments about parking. Many motorists find this a steep figure and some have complained about having to find R4.10 for 30 minutes' parking, even though they want to drop something off in less than five minutes.

A global study conducted last year showed that parking in central Cape Town cost more than any other city in the country.

The study by property and facilities management group, Colliers International, said a monthly parking bay in Cape Town cost R1 000. The second most expensive monthly parking in the country is also in the city, at the new Century City business park where an unreserved bay costs R684 a month, or R60 a day.

Johannesburg was the third most expensive place to park, at R49 a day and R674 a month. Pretoria ranks fourth at R29 a day. Durban comes in at fifth place at R537 a month, while the cheapest city for parking is Centurion at R390 a month.

While some people can afford these prices, most Cape Town motorists battle to find reasonable parking as space diminishes and demand grows.

Parking at some of the city's larger malls also costs a lot these days and Weekend Argus readers have sent in many SMSes of complaint.

The V&A Waterfront, one of the country's top tourist spots and a local favourite for restaurants and movies, has the most expensive parking of the city's malls.

Parking for the first hour is R10, compared with other malls where the same amount gets you parking for anything between two and six hours.

Parking for four hours for dinner and a movie at the Waterfront is going to cost you more than the movie ticket, or the price of a couple of drinks. The pay machine surprises many people who have been parked for four to five hours, when it demands a whopping R40.

Another expensive parking area is Cape Town International Airport, where one hour's parking costs R14.

Wheel clamp release or illegal parking fees range from R200 to R300, while the city's impounding release is the most expensive at R862.

Canal Walk spokeswoman Vanessa Herbst said: "A R300 fine is issued for illegal parking with the funds being donated to the Canal Walk Foundation, which focuses on education."

In Paarl, parking is free everywhere. In Cape Town there is free parking at the Blue Route Mall in Tokai, Kenilworth Centre, Zewenwacht in Kuils River, N1 City, Vangate Mall in Heideveld, Constantia Village and The Promenade and Westgate in Mitchells Plain.

In Stellenbosch parking rates are between R1.50 and R2.50 for a maximum of one or three hours in various parts of the town.

The City of Cape Town increased its annual rates in June, saying the rise was unavoidable because of "rising costs".

The city said the parking rates were implemented to ensure that the "limited number of parking spaces available are not monopolised for lengthy periods".

Maddie Mazaza, the city's director for transport network operations, said while parking rates would go up in July during the World Cup, this would be the usual annual increase and was "not World Cup-related".

She added that there would be another increase effective from July the next year.

Mazaza said no more kerbside parking could be provided in the CBD.

The proposed Integrated Rapid Transport system was expected to reduce the demand for parking with more people using public transport.

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