Palanga businessmen are outraged: after the introduction of a parking fee, no one will go to the resort anymore

It is said that the Palanga authorities are trying to reduce the number of cars in the city and are taking an ecological route. However, the businessmen of the resort are not satisfied with such an initiative – they say that Palanga, which barely breathes in summer anyway, will suffocate – people will simply stop going.

More about this in TV3 news.

Palanga Council voted on changes to the resort’s parking fee. There are a lot of innovations – from midnight to seven in the morning you will no longer have to pay for an abandoned car, as was the case until now in Palanga, the only one in Lithuania. Also, the first hour of leaving the car in some places in the center will be free of charge.

It is difficult to find a place for a car in the center of Palanga even before the start of summer. Therefore, the council’s decision that from now on you will have to pay for car parking not only in summer, but all year round is causing the most discussion. In autumn, winter and spring, an hour of parking will cost 1 euro.

Not valid in summer only in the center

Citizens evaluate this decision in different ways:

“Normally, you still have to pay for cleaning. For order. For cleanliness. Palanga is more beautiful every time. Buildings are being renovated, streets are being renovated, they need to pay.”

“I’m from Vilnius, where parking is always paid, so I understand why, but it doesn’t make life easier. In general, one euro an hour is a lot.”

“Euro an hour? It would be. When you come not for an hour, but for a few days, that would be enough of a blow. When you come for the day, it can pay off. And if for five days, it feels already.”

It is true that during the non-summer season, the toll will be valid only in the center of Palanga. In the section of Vytautas street from the intersection with Kęstutis street to Botanika garden, part of Daukanta and all of Mickevičius street and in the parking lot near Meilės aleja.

“Palanga aims to reduce car traffic little by little in the heart of the city. For ecology, for everything else. And we will go gradually, and we will promote it in the central part of the city – on Kęstučios Street, Darius and Girėnos Street, where the most beautiful places are formed so that parking will disappear altogether,” says Palanga Mayor Šarūnas Vaitkus.

Businessmen do not like the new order

The opposition of the Palanga council proposed to collect the toll only on weekends and holidays outside of summer, but the council rejected such a proposal.

“Entrepreneurs are buzzing about this issue. Because they found out exactly from you – the media. This issue was not discussed normally either with the small business of Palanga or with the Palanga Hotel and Restaurant Association. Therefore, to say that he is good, I would even dare to doubt”, says Svetlana Tučkė, a member of the opposition of the Palanga Council.

And in fact, Palanga businessmen criticize the decision not to suspend the toll at other times of the year. According to them, the resort cannot enjoy the flow of tourists in the cold season anyway, and if you have to pay for cars, then there will be no people at all.

“It is a pity that parking is paid during the winter, because guests came from the surrounding towns, where they went for a walk, to cafes and restaurants. This is the additional income entrepreneurs received. Because this winter is very difficult anyway, we barely survive. We are planning to maybe not even work next year”, comments Henrikas Tautkus, manager of the restaurant “Floras symphonija”.

He does not understand where Palanga is moving towards

Businessmen say that 6 bars have closed in Palanga this winter. In the summer, the pillow fee has doubled at the resort. So the business does not understand in which direction Palanga is moving.

“I just think that the municipality should promote business so that there are people in the resort town in the winter, where there are very few vacationers in the winter. Palanga also has very few inhabitants, so as many as possible can come. Some kind of entertainment, they would discuss with the business to improve something, not reduce it”, says H. Tautkus.

True, the summer toll rates have not changed. From May 15 until September 15 leaving a car for an hour in the yellow zone will cost 80 cents, in the red zone – 1.6 euros, and in the green zone closest to the sea – 2.2 euros. Last year, the parking fee added more than one million euros to Palanga’s budget.

Learn more about it in the video report at the top of the article.