Last Tuesday, Berlin’s Senate Chancellery announced that parking fees in the German capital will increase from January next year. Fees for Berlin’s different parking zones will increase by one euro each.

Cost of parking in Berlin set to rise

New parking fees are set to come into effect from the beginning of next year, Berlin’s Senate Chancellery announced on Tuesday. The plan is for the fees for different parking zones to increase by one euro. Currently, the parking fees in Germany amount to either one, two or three euros an hour, which is set to increase to two, three and four euros an hour under the current proposals.

Parking fees in Berlin have not changed for around 15 years, according to a statement by the Chancellery. The new ordinance is set to come into effect by January 2023, although it must be first sent to the Mayor’s Council for an opinion before the Senate makes the final decision.

Increasing parking fees in Berlin has been planned since 2019 as part of the Berlin Clean Air Plan. The plan wants to couple increased fees with the expansion of parking space management to significantly reduce car traffic, as well as reduce harmful emissions.

Bikes and motorcycles exempt from parking fees

A general exemption from the obligation to pay is being made for e-scooters, bicycles, cargo bikes, light motorcycles and motorbikes parked in areas where traffic is stationary. This should make it easier for people using said types of transport to use parking spaces, resulting in the pavement being kept clear for pedestrians.

Due to technical reasons, some 4.500 parking ticket machines in Berlin have to be changed gradually, and the new fees will only be applicable from the time a machine has been converted. To this end, the operators of electronic parking management systems have been granted a transitional period until June 30, 2023.

ADAC criticises plan to increase parking fees

The ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg transport association has criticised the plan to increase parking fees and instead called for incentives for alternatives to driving, like making public transport more attractive. "Just making car parking more expensive and at the same time expanding the parking space management areas is not enough," said traffic policy spokesman Edgar Terlinden, according to the Berliner Morgenpost. "Such approaches are neither fair nor socially acceptable and also fuel inflation."