At least for the time being

Plans for parking fees remain in the drawer

Parking shortage: The Park&Ride facility in Neumarkt is usually overcrowded.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

For Salzburg's public transport users, the Park&Ride facilities in the state are currently still free of charge - but this is not the case everywhere. In Wels, for example, rail customers also have to pay for parking spaces. The annual fee is 400 euros.

Only rail customers are actually allowed to use the ÖBB parking lot at the train station in Neumarkt. As reported, a barrier-free access system was therefore installed on Tuesday. A valid public transport ticket must be scanned at the exit. Parking is then free of charge. Anyone without a ticket will have to pay 50 euros per day. This is to ensure that only rail customers use the designated parking space. There have been repeated plans to introduce a general parking fee, as confirmed by Transport Minister Stefan Schnöll (ÖVP). One example of this is Wels. There, the annual parking ticket costs 400 euros. Neumarkt's mayor David Egger (SPÖ) could imagine charging 200 euros.

Public transport tickets have had to be scanned since Tuesday.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

But it won't get that far yet. Schnöll is still waving it off. One reason is that the switch to public transport is in the growth phase. The changeover should therefore not be made more difficult.

In Neumarkt, we will have to wait and see how the situation at the parking lot develops and whether the overcrowding improves as a result of the access system. If not, the general charge could quickly be brought up again. This would definitely have an advantage for the municipality of Neumarkt: operational maintenance costs of 100,000 euros per year would be eliminated.