The investigation reveals that during 2018 the number of fines received due to wrong parking in the Municipality of Tirana went to 74,191 from only 32 that was the year before. The value gained as a result of the collection of fines was estimated to be 342 million euros.
Author: Geri Emiri, Lutfi Dervishi
If you live or work in the center of Tirana, one of the problems you will have to face is parking.
The established fees (100 ALL/hour) for parking were intended to discourage driving, especially in the center of the capital.
But, if you are an immigrant, a foreigner, a visitor from Kosovo or you don't have a mobile phone (credit), then parking turns into a nightmare, because from September 2018 parking on the streets of Tirana is paid only by sending a sms with the license plate and parking area.
Kur Tirana Parking started the service on the streets with paid parking, you can pay by getting a ticket from the "parking inspectors" you find on the side of the road or by sending a sms with the license plate of the vehicle, the area and how many hours you will stay.
Tirana Parking was established as an agency under the Municipality of Tirana and started operating in 2016 with the purpose of administering the paid public parking service in the Municipality of Tirana, above ground and underground.
Center for Quality Journalism found complaints from citizens, which are also recognized by local authorities.
In a letter dated September 11, 2018 that center available, the mayor of the Municipality of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, while addressing the Public Procurement Agency, states that there have been many complaints from citizens about the method of payment with sms, as some of them did not have financial values (credits), on mobile phones and that there were difficulties in collecting parking fees, since foreign citizens who do not have an Albanian number, cannot benefit from this service.
The municipality of Tirana decided to diversify the payment method for parking in January.
At the meeting of the City Council on January 31, the method of payment was added to the employees of Tirana Parking or alternative ways such as self-service devices. Although earlier in the report, the municipality wrote that it intended to avoid the form of payment with an inspector to avoid abuses.
A company that currently operates in the local market in the field of payment Services (where it currently performs payments for telephone, OSHEE, UKT, etc.) using electronic devices, "has expressed interest in offering this alternative payment service", - the letter reads. that Veliaj directs to the Public Procurement Agency.
Self-service devices appeared on the street months ago Myslym Shyri and Ibrahim Rugova under the parking signs with the inscription "You can also pay here". The equipment of a private company stands there, as they do not yet offer the parking payment service.
The opposition in the City Council has looking THAT Tirana Parking to buy the equipment itself and offer the cash payment service avoiding the "concession", as the councilors of the Socialist Movement for Integration called it at the meeting of the Municipal Council, where the new form of parking was approved with the votes of the majority they described it as an increase in payment methods.
Revenue from fines competes with parking
All the roads, 69 such, that are under administration Tirana Parking, have turned into a "mine" for the company.
The data officially obtained by the Municipal Police of Tirana show that from 2017 to 2018 there is a doubling of the fines imposed in connection with parking. Calculating the number of fines for 2018, it turns out that 1 fine was imposed every 2 minutes.
If a citizen parks in paid spaces and does not pay the ticket or exceeds the parking limit, he is fined. The Municipal Police of Tirana exercises this competence based on the Traffic Code (Article 155), "Stopping, stopping and impounding vehicles".
The fines are increasing exponentially. If in 2017 we had 32,342 fines, in 2018 the fines doubled to 74,191, based on the official data we received from the Municipal Police. Calculating the number of fines for 2018 and dividing by 264 working days (when paid parking operates from Monday to Friday), it turns out that 281 fines were imposed per day or about 1 fine every 2 minutes.
The revenue that the municipality collects from fines is greater than the revenue that is collected from all parking, on the street, in the squares and in the underground ones. If we get an average fine in zone A worth 3000 ALL and where there are 39 roads, for 2018 we calculate 222 million ALL or 1.8 million euros collected from fines, while the value collected from all parking for 2018 is about 270 million ALL or 2.1 million euros.
Fines have become a concern for businesses as well.
"Customers buy a pair of shoes for 4000 ALL and receive a fine of 3000 ALL, so they don't think of coming to me anymore, that's why they leave and our business is falling," says worried Aurora Shehaj who manages a boutique on the road Myslym Shyri.
On the toll roads in the capitals of Europe or as it works at the airport Mother Teresa, has a free parking tolerance of 4-7 minutes.
"There are many complaints, where the Municipal Police does not aim to monitor, but is waiting for even a minute of delay, so that you can receive a fine. The imposition of fines has therefore become a goal for the Municipal Police", - says Edi Fero about the concerns that citizens address to him as the head of Albanian Consumer Association.
Agency Tirana Parking decided to remove "parking inspectors" from the streets (in 2018 there were 115 employees), but the number of municipal policemen who fine even for wrong parking has increased significantly, from 323 effective in 2016, to 428 effective in 2018.
Reserved parking
Analyzing the sources of money collection for parking in three years, it turns out that the highest income comes from "reserved parking". Individuals, companies or taxi Services can reserve the place throughout the year or in certain parts of it by parking only them.
The subscription contract for 1 year (from Monday to Friday), with 12 hours a day, according to the municipality, costs 221,760 ALL per year. But, if we calculate the income that the municipality would collect per day from paid parking, where one hour costs 100 ALL, more money would be collected per year, i.e. 316.800 ALL.
"Reserved parking is privatization. So, the volume (frequency) of use is not served, but the volume of income, so it is counterproductive. The purpose of the fee is not only to generate income, but also to improve parking, not letting people park all day", - assesses Akil Kraja, adviser of the Democratic Party in the Municipal Council of Tirana.
According to Edi Fero, one of the many complaints is that many business owners have occupied seven or eight parking spaces in front of the business and thus make it difficult for the resident to find parking, even for a fee.
All toll roads
In January 2016, Tirana became the first city in Albania to start charging toll roads. By means of a DECISION of the City Council, the agency was created Tirana Parking, depending on the Municipality of Tirana, which today administers 3 parking areas, A, B and C, starting from 100 Lek for one hour of parking, followed by 40 and 20 Lek.
Three years after payment for parking on the streets of Tirana started, the parking agency has 69 streets under its administration. There are 39 roads in parking area A, 9 roads in area B, and in the rest, according to the agency, work is being done on equipment with relevant signage. According to decision of the Tirana Municipal Council, on one street parking spaces are divided into paid, reserved, free and dedicated parking for people with disabilities.
The scheme operates 5 days a week, from Monday to Friday, at 7am30 me 2000 of the evening.
The idea of the local legislators was that not all the spaces on the street, be they in the center, should be paid.
Center for Journalism observed the separation of paid and free parking spaces on the street Myslym Shyri, where it turned out that, according to the Decision of the Municipal Council on "places with payment and reservation", there was a quota of 60%, while on the ground we found about 76%. As from the 40% that was determined in the decision for the "free parking" category, we found about 24%.
"In this case, the citizens have lost! It's all illegal... you can't increase the number of paid parking lots without asking the City Council", says the opposition councilor, Akil Kraja.
Even on the road Ibrahim Rugova paid parking spaces have been added above the established rate, halving the free ones. In the decision of the Municipal Council, Bulevardi Bird I it is determined that there will be paid parking only on the western side, but the Municipality of Tirana has turned both sides of the road into paid ones.
It's a completely different situation Kavaja Street, where free parking spaces are above the established rate, while on the street Luigi Gurakuqi and Kosovars Street rates were according to the Decision of the Municipal Council.
From the detailed observation of Center for Journalism in two of the main streets of the capital, Myslym Shyri and Ibrahim Rugova, it turned out that paid and reserved parking spaces were in higher quotas than the decision taken by the City Council, being added at the expense of free parking spaces and almost halving their number.
"The staff of Tirana Parking performs on-site verifications on the change in the number of real places and then, in cooperation with the Directorate of Transport and Road Traffic, the processing of the plates with the relevant changes is carried out to approve the changed percentage of parking places", - officially replied the Municipality of Tirana to Center.
While the municipality stated that the feasibility study for the toll roads was carried out by its structures, it did not respond to our request to provide the feasibility study for each road.
According to Edi Fero, who represents the problems of consumers, the allocation of parking spaces should have included consultations with the community according to the "Law on Public Consultation", but this did not happen.
Street Myslym Shyri in Tirana is a commercial street, where on both sides of it, around 360 businesses are active.
Aurora Shehaj, who manages a boutique on this street, says that the state should have a more lenient policy regarding paid parking spaces.
"Only when we saw the bags with vests did we learn about paid street parking, as we had no prior information from the municipality," she said to Center.
"Huge fines are imposed here as a result of not informing people. More signs are needed, as the lines are also erased and people drive by thinking there are parking attendants. The police come very quickly and fine him, and when they come back, they find the sheet on the window," says Aurora Shehaj.
To park for an hour there, where together with 38 other streets it is classified as parking zone A, costs 100 ALL. Paid parking spaces are marked with blue lines, reserved parking spaces are marked with yellow, and free parking spaces are marked with white.
The problem of parking in Tirana is not only for businesses and visitors, but also for the residents themselves, for whom every day it is becoming more and more impossible to find a free place for their vehicles.
* Journalist Geri Emiri, Editor Lutfi Dervishi.
**In the main photo at the beginning of the article, the sign with the notice for the parking fee. Photo: Tirana Municipality.
***Note
This article was produced within the project "Tiranalytics: An assessment of public expenditures of local government in the Municipality of Tirana" which is supported by LevizAlbania. The opinions and positions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the opinions and positions of the donor.
