In Pilsen, the first parking garage for 450 cars will open in June

Plzeň - A different dimension of parking in the center of Plzeň will be offered by the four-story above-ground parking garage Rychtářka for 450 vehicles, which will open on June 1. This is the first public parking garage with 24/7 service in the Plzeň region. Martin Pytlík, the director of the municipal company Parking Plzeň, which will collect parking fees, said this to ČTK.
    "Streets in the center will still serve for parking up to two hours. The garage will be for long-term parking. Commute, check-in, and return to the square takes about 20 minutes," he added. The price for parking in the garage should be less than 30 crowns, which is the highest hourly rate for parking in the city. Pytlík would see it, considering public opinion polls, between 15 and 20 CZK/hour, but the city council will decide this month. The first two weeks to a month should see parking for free or for a symbolic crown.
    The monitored parking lot will also be used by residents who do not have the right to a card on the streets according to the parking regulations, such as court employees and people living in the center in rental housing. There will also be subscription spots for 24 hours marked with a parking sign and the vehicle's license plate. There will be between 120 and 150 resident spots. This number should make the center of the regional city more accessible for visitors.
    According to Pytlík, one parking garage in the center is sufficient. "According to the transportation master plan, there is a demand, but the highest is for free parking," he stated. This is evident, for example, in the area in front of the Plaza shopping center, at Kaufland on Roudná, and along the Mže by the new building. According to Pytlík, wild parking on green areas must be removed, which is the responsibility of the third city district. After the approval of the new garage, temporary parking spots along the river will be removed, where future bike and pedestrian paths will lead.
    The builders have already completed the rough construction of the parking garage, which can accommodate 447 cars, three times more than the original asphalt area. Each floor has approximately 3000 m2. From the first floor, a fifty-meter steel pedestrian bridge will lead across the four-lane road toward the square, which, according to foreman Martin Blažek, will begin to be installed this week.
    The parking garage will be built for about 250 million crowns by the Prague company Hermosa Real Estate. "The building is owned by the city, but we will maintain it technically. We have an agreement with the city regarding the availability of parking spaces," said Michal Lojka from Hermosa, which bears all construction risks. According to Deputy Mayor Petr Rund, this is the first PPP project of public-private partnership in the Czech Republic of its kind. There is interest from other cities in similar projects, Lojka added.
    The city will pay the investor 18.5 million crowns annually; the town hall will collect all parking fees. Revenues from commercial areas occupying more than 1900 m2 on the ground floor will go into "the pockets" of Hermosa Parking. The PPP project is seven percent more advantageous for us than if we built and operated the garage on our own, Rund added.
    There are currently 997 paid parking spaces in the center of Plzeň.