Globes reports that the shortage of parking spots experienced by Israeli drivers is making municipalities take steps. Experts warns however that in the long term, with Israel expected to become the most crowded country in the world within two decades, these steps are useless. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport is dragging its feet, and procedures for advancing a car parking policy have yet to be presented.

An example of what the municipalities are doing is to be found in Bnei Brak. The municipality has announced the festive launch of a huge new parking lot on the BBC site in the city that is intended to become one of the main business districts of the Gush Dan area. The parking lot will have four underground levels with space for 1,280 vehicles and is being built at an investment of NIS 150 million, representing a municipal subsidy of NIS 117,000 for each parking space.

The larger cities are also trying to deal with the parking problem. The Jerusalem municipality has come in for criticism for building giant car parking lots next to light rail stations. In some cases these are "Park and Ride" parking lots on the outskirts of the city, but in some cases they are within the urban fabric, such as the parking lot under construction at the entrance to the city near the Central Bus Station, the Israel Railways Station, and the light rail. In Tel Aviv, a tender was held for a robotic parking lot, but it failed, leaving a hole dug in Bograshov Street. A new tender has been published.

No national plan

The professional literature and best practice in cities around the world show that parking, like any public resource of which there is a shortage, has to be managed. So, for example, the number of parking permits could be the same as the number of street parking spots, the price of street parking should reflect demand, and should rise when demand rises, and alternatives for mobility and accessibility should be developed, and street parking reduced.

The last Economic Arrangements Law contained a reform in this area consisting of two parts. The first was cancellation of the maximum price for street parking, allowing municipalities to charge more. The second, which was due to come into force in 2024, after the local authority elections, provided that cities with populations of more than 40,000 will each be divided into three parking zones such that the parking badge entitling resident to free parking will be valid only within the zones in which they live.

Lior Steinberg, an urban planner and co-founder of Humankind, a Rotterdam-based agency for urban change, says, "The addiction of our cities to cars is fueled by more roads and more parking spaces. Fighting the problem by adding parking spices is like scratching a wound. It may feel good for a short time, but it makes the problem much worse.

"If there are more parking spots, more people will choose to take their cars to the city center. As a result, there will be more traffic jams, more pollution, more noise, and less street life. Bus passengers will suffer more, because the roads will be packed with more cars. Instead of dealing cosmetically with the symptom, it is necessary to solve the problem - people don’t have convenient, fast, and efficient ways of reaching the city center without cars, and city mayors have a central role to play in this."

Source - Globes/Twitter - Image - Bnei Brak spokesperson's office