Parking in the city centre

Unpaid parking in the Ostrava city centre is going to be restricted. It will affect up to 600 parking spaces, which will now be subject to a fee or reserved for residents and pre-paid parking card holders. Parking will be completely prohibited in some areas. Therefore, the City is preparing several Park and Ride (P+R) car parks with good public transport accessibility in the vicinity of the Ostrava city centre, and Park and Go (P+G) car parks within walking distance to the centre.

This is in line with the long-term strategy and the Spatial Plan of the City of Ostrava, the expected increase in vehicular traffic in Ostrava and the lack of parking spaces in the city centre and its vicinity. Drivers can already try to park their car for free at Hlubina in the Lower Vítkovice (DOV), where a P+R car park with a capacity of 330 parking spaces connected to the city centre by public transport should be created in the future.

The aim is to coordinate parking in the territory of the centre of Ostrava defined by the streets Mariánskohorská – Muglinovská – the River Ostravice – Karolína – Místecká – Železárenská – Průmyslová – 1. Máje – Přemyslovců – Grmelova + Kamenec (Ostravice – Českobratrská overpass – Dědičná).

 “Up to six hundred free-of-charge parking spaces will be newly charged and redistributed among paid spaces and subscribers (i.e. residents or pre-paid parking card holders). Around the beginning of September, parking will be charged on Českobratrská, where there are up to one hundred and twenty parking spaces. Gradually, however, this will concern other areas, such as the Mariánské hory or the Šalamouna housing estate. Also, prices for long-term parking behind the Antonín Dvořák Theatre will increase in the future. We know that up to 2450 vehicles a day park in the centre in violation of applicable legislation, which should also change. When charging or increasing parking prices, we will follow the “theatre” model, which means that the closer to the centre the drivers want to park, the more expensive it will be”, explains Lukáš Semerák, Council Member for Transport.

The City of Ostrava has commissioned the study “Concept of parking in Ostrava”. The analysis shows a high static transport deficit in about 10 years, reaching about 4 500 places in the area of ​​the wider centre. Similar numbers are reported by surveys in Poruba (5 thousand places) and Ostrava Jih (6 thousand places).On the basis of the results of the study, the City is preparing a long-term strategy of parking in Ostrava, which includes a proposal for the construction of P+R or P+G car parks.

Park and Ride

Park & ​​Ride is a well-known and well-developed concept. The Czech Republic it is used in Prague and Brno.

“It is a form of combined transport – individual car transport, which is followed by public transport. In addition, parking in P+R is usually very financially advantageous for the users to compensate for the several-minute trip to their destination by public transport. Due to the further increase in the number of cars coming to Ostrava, the parking deficit and the state of the environment, we must realize that we will not be able to cope with the situation unless we gradually build a system of P&R and P&G car parks”, added Transport Council Member  Lukáš Semerák.

Some large-capacity parking lots in the city centre will give way to new parking facilities (e.g. parking under Frýdlant bridges, opposite Ostrava City Hall, Českobratrská overpass, etc.), whose current capacity will no longer be available in the future. The building of parking facilities is also an important tool for promoting public transport and integrated transport systems.

“Reducing the volume of traffic going to the city centre will also have a positive impact on its parking balance. If cars which are currently parked in the centre all day long are parked in P&R car parks, the centre should become more attractive. It should be more appealing to pedestrians and cyclists, who will revitalize the centre and are likely to increase the sales of small merchants. The future increased monitoring of compliance with parking zones at the designated locations in the centre of Ostrava will bring more demand for parking spaces around the zone, ensuring greater respect for short-term stopping in the designated locations. This should increase the possibility of parking your vehicle when running errands or doing small shopping”, explains Lukáš Semerák.

Upcoming P+R in Ostrava

Based on the study, the city has identified suitable locations to create P+R car parks in the future. These are, for example, P+R Hlubina (DOV), which should primarily be used for the parking of visitors and employees of Moravian Ostrava. It is now possible to try out parking in this area completely free of charge and then continue to the city centre by public transport. The current capacity of about one hundred parking spaces will gradually increase to the planned capacity of 330 places.

Another planned car park for the city centre area is P+R Hlučínská (near the tram loop on Hlučínská Street in the Černý potok area). This should especially be used by drivers coming to Ostrava from Hlučín and the D1 motorway. The total capacity of the car park will be 135 parking spaces.

A similar type of car park is being prepared, for example, in the area of Kolonie Jeremenko. We are working on an extension of the existing car park at Hranečník.

The city is also preparing a business model that will allow to give benefits to those who will park in P+R car parks and later use the public transport (for example, by giving them a discount for parking or, initially, to park for free). In the future, however, Ostrava would like to have P+R and P+G car parks also in other parts of the city.