"Banning" cars from parking on roads causes many concerns

Cars are parked everywhere on sidewalks and streets due to lack of parking spaces.

Late in the morning of March 22, we took a walk around the streets in the three districts of Le Chan, Hong Bang and Ngo Quyen, Hai Phong City. In many places, cars with less than 9 seats were parked on the sidewalks, spilling onto the road. The cause of this situation, besides the awareness of some car owners, mainly stems from the serious lack of parking lots and parking spots.

According to information from the People's Committee of Hai Phong City, there are currently more than 422,000 cars of all kinds in the area, including: 16,000 tractors, nearly 19,000 trailers, more than 91,000 trucks, more than 7,000 passenger cars and nearly 117,000 cars with less than 9 seats. Meanwhile, in the area there are only more than 6,300 car parking spaces in parking lots and temporary parking spots, meeting 3 - 4% of the demand.

Policy - Hai Phong: — Cars parked everywhere on Vo Thi Sau Street, Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong City (Photo taken at noon on March 22).

In the three central districts of Hai Phong City alone (Hong Bang, Le Chan, Ngo Quyen), there are more than 25,000 cars with less than 9 seats but there are only 29 parking lots with 1,200 parking spaces. The situation in other districts in Hai Phong is not much better. Of which, Hai An district has 45 parking lots for containers and trucks with 2,334 parking spaces, Kien An district has 3 parking lots with 90 spaces, and Do Son district has 1 parking lot with 200 spaces.

In addition, in Hai Phong City, there are 32 temporary parking spots using part of the roadway and sidewalk with about 2,500 parking spaces.

In 2023, Hai Phong City Police alone handled nearly 10,000 cases of vehicles stopping and parking illegally on central streets and at high-risk locations for traffic accidents.

In particular, the act of parking a car in violation of regulations is subject to an administrative fine of up to 1 million VND/case, while parking a car in violation of regulations causing a traffic accident is subject to a maximum fine of 12 million VND/case.

In Document No. 578/UBND-GT, the People's Committee of Hai Phong City stated that the City Police and other functional forces have not yet strictly and thoroughly handled the illegal stopping and parking of cars because the number of parking spots is not enough to meet the demand. If the handling is strengthened, it will affect society and people's lives.

Cars are banned from parking on traffic routes from April 1, 2025

Faced with the situation of vehicle owners arbitrarily parking cars, occupying the roadway and sidewalk, leaving people with no space to walk on the sidewalk, causing traffic congestion, posing a potential risk of traffic accidents, especially the respect for the law, on March 20, 2024, the People's Committee of Hai Phong City issued Document No. 578/UBND-GT announcing the conclusion of Mr. Nguyen Van Tung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Hai Phong City, on the situation of parking and development of parking lots in the city.

Accordingly, from April 1, 2024, Hai Phong City Police are required to focus on imposing the highest level of penalties on cases of stopping and parking cars in violation of regulations at high-risk locations and cars parked on sidewalks reserved for pedestrians.

From April 1, 2025, only stopping and parking of cars will be allowed on traffic routes, especially in the central area of Hai Phong City. Also from this time, Hai Phong City will direct the City Police and other functional forces to increase inspection, handling, and apply maximum penalties for cases of illegal parking of cars on all traffic routes.

The Chairman of the Hai Phong People's Committee also called on car owners to urgently renovate their existing houses to park their cars indoors. In case they cannot park their cars indoors, they must find and rent and park their cars at licensed car parks.

Hai Phong City encourages and facilitates procedures for investors to build parking lots and renovate buildings into parking lots or add more parking spaces. At the same time, Hai Phong City only decides on service prices for parking lots invested by the City budget. Parking lot investors build their own parking prices to ensure business efficiency when investing.

Still have many concerns and questions

Although agreeing with the "ban" on parking cars on traffic routes, many Hai Phong residents, especially car owners, still have concerns and questions about some contents in Document No. 578 of Hai Phong City People's Committee.

Talking to Nguoi Dua Tin, Mr. NVC, in Lach Tray Ward, Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong City, shared that the City's roadmap until April 1, 2025, only allowing stopping and not allowing parking on traffic routes will "make it difficult" for vehicle owners in case there is still a lack of parking spaces by then. Not every family can afford to renovate their house to have a parking space due to economic conditions, houses in alleys where cars cannot enter, and houses that are too narrow to renovate.

Regarding Hai Phong City allowing parking lot investors to set their own parking prices, Mr. LNS, in An Bien Ward, Le Chan District, Hai Phong City, said that taking advantage of this regulation, parking lot owners may increase prices when vehicle owners have few other options. Therefore, the City should set a ceiling price, for example, it cannot exceed a certain number of times the price for parking lots invested and built with the budget.

Besides, if the price of parking lots invested by the City budget is lower than the price of private parking lots, it is very likely that negative factors such as "bribing" to get parking spaces will arise.

Many car owners expressed concern that when setting a time to “ban” cars from parking on traffic routes, Hai Phong City should have a forecast of parking spots up to that time. If the current shortage of parking spots continues, it will be very difficult to implement.

“I think that, in order to limit and eventually eliminate car parking on traffic routes, in addition to building more parking lots, Hai Phong City should increase public transportation and encourage people to use it.

In addition, the City should plan and invest in building parking lots to facilitate vehicle owners living in densely populated areas where it is difficult to arrange parking spaces indoors as well as near offices and headquarters where many people often come to work," said Mr. PVB, in Duong Kinh District, Hai Phong City .

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