Here it is! It happened! You have become the happy owner of your own car. The first timid steps on the path of the city driver have been overcome, the starting line has been passed, we managed to get from the car dealership to the house. Here the lucky one can wait for the first, but far from the last unpleasant surprise - there is nowhere to put the car.
Drive-in entrances and exits from courtyards, cars standing on sidewalks and curbs, closed approaches to shops and all kinds of institutions - all that terribly annoys a pedestrian who briskly and quickly overcomes all obstacles for his two, for a car owner - a nightmare and the real cause of daily stress. The usual parking can solve the problem. This is a specially equipped area for personal or business vehicles. In practice, residents of large cities only have to dream of their own car space and throw their swallow near a round-the-clock loading station not far from their home.
Where to become?
This question will 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, supermarket or to work in an office center. In the overwhelming majority of such institutions, the ability to deliver a car not far from the building is a trump card and a way of self-promotion. Corporate parking is a mark of a good organization. Not without reason in the brochures the presence of parking is always mentioned first. But not everyone has personal parking for employees and guests, and in case of the appearance of this parking place it may not be accessible 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 equally 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, you may find that the car was taken away by a tow truck.
What kind of parking are there?
The best option for preserving your own funds, car and nerves will be the search for a specially equipped parking. They are different, and recently there has been a good trend towards an increase in the number of such sites. At the parking, the method of payment for services and 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 lots was ground parking - this is a perimeter-protected area guarded by a guard and theoretically responsible for the car when you put it there.
Why theoretically? Because in order to be sure of this, it is necessary to draw up an agreement that sets out the conditions for cooperation, actions of the parking administration in the event of force majeure, the possibility of receiving compensation, etc.
Underground parking is considered more modern and better. In Russia as a whole and in Moscow in particular, there are not many similar parking lots, most often they are located under very large shopping and entertainment complexes or on the lower tiers of huge residential neighborhoods consisting of new buildings.
A huge plus that distinguishes this parking is that the car is in a dry, warm and ventilated room. At such parking lots, a high-quality video surveillance system is usually installed, due 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 is designed, good capacity is initially laid as the basis. This allows you to easily find a good place for a car.
You can leave the transport not only for a couple of hours, but even for days and weeks. This is especially true for parking lots located near train stations and airports.
Similar to the principle of arrangement and security may be Moscow parking, located on the upper floors (or on the roof) of buildings. True, such parking in the capital is extremely small, because they imply a special design of engineering structures, reinforced foundations and floors of houses, special conveyors or tracks for cars.
Do not go to a fortuneteller
It is very pleasing that the authorities are trying to improve the situation with traffic congestion, but to solve this problem without arranging normal parking spaces is unrealistic. Metropolitan officials predict by 2020 to solve the problem of a lack of parking. To do this, it is planned to create the so-called parking interceptors, 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 tendency towards the foundation of modern and high-tech parking lots. These are ground structures, which occupy a very small area, but thanks to the compact arrangement of cars and their adaptability, they can accommodate quite a lot of cars in one place.
The difficulty is that such constructions are borrowed abroad, and domestic legislation does not provide for such parking.
Harsh realities
The plans of statesmen always look great in theory and on paper, when it comes to their implementation, then 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 country's roads and sidewalks is far from a priority for officials, therefore, it remains only to investors.
Those who plan to open paid parking lots have to deal with a huge amount of difficulties. Constantly changing legislation, the absence of spelled out terms and concepts in the basic laws, bureaucracy and paperwork do not allow you to establish a profitable business, and car owners to solve the problem with a house for their car.
“If we don’t get right in, we’ll enter in sideways ...”
A separate question that is of interest to car owners: what kind of parking space should they have in the parking lot? According to the rules, a 5-meter-long and 2.5-meter-wide section should be provided for storing one car in the parking lot. The driver can easily put his iron horse in this framework, but in practice this norm is rarely observed.
Parking lots, which are rented out according to the issued documents, at least approximately, but observe similar dimensions of the parking space, and spontaneous parking, street parking along roads and even more so yard areas are in complete chaos. Drivers have to poke a car in any suitable place, and nobody understands how exactly it stands. At least until the driver of the car parked next to him needs to drive off.
Ultramodern fundraising system
It is especially difficult for residents of the Russian capital to drive. Long traffic jams, lack of parking, and chaos on the roads are daily realities faced by drivers of private cars, public and special vehicles. In recent years, the problem has been solved a little. This was made possible thanks to the city program "Moscow Parking".
Its essence lies in the fact that all parking spaces are systematized and streamlined, a competent system for paying parking lots has been developed. Money for the service can be paid in a variety of ways, from Internet payments and SMS to the usual payment of money through terminals and parking meters.
Of course, there is a fly in the ointment in a barrel with honey: the system quite often fails, and developers sometimes solve problems sometimes for months. However, judging by the reports of the road services, the metropolitan traffic was still able to be relieved, thanks in large part to the Moscow parking system.