Currently, the rules state that payment for parking must be made “immediately,” but it is unclear exactly how much time the driver has.
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In practice, a person may need to find a parking meter, determine the parking zone, log into an app, or enter the car details. There have been multiple reports in the public space about cases where drivers were recorded just a few minutes after parking their car.
“The parking fee is necessary for the city and we are not against it. It helps regulate traffic flows, ensures turnover of parking spaces, and encourages not leaving the car in one place all day. However, the parking fee is a traffic regulation tool, not a way to profit from a person’s delay or mistake,” says Vydūnas Sadauskas, representative of the “Vilnius can” committee and member of the Vilnius City Council.
According to him, the municipality’s parking system cannot operate according to the logic of a commercial parking lot.
“The city is not a private parking company, and the driver is not a walking wallet. If a person consciously does not pay for parking – control must work. But if he just parked the car and is going to the parking meter or trying to pay by phone, what traffic problem do we solve by recording him after a few minutes? Paying the parking fee should not resemble a lottery: will I manage to pay or will I be recorded first?” says V. Sadauskas.
It is proposed to set a clear 10-minute limit within which the driver should pay the fee. Failure to pay the fee by the end of this period could not be recorded as a violation.
“It is important to clearly state – this is not 10 minutes of free parking. It is 10 minutes to pay. The tolerance limit is needed not to allow breaking the rules, but to give a person a real chance to comply. The city must first help to follow the rules, not wait for the moment when a person makes a mistake,” says V. Sadauskas.
According to him, a clear deadline would also eliminate the current uncertainty: “What does paying ‘immediately’ mean – 30 seconds, a minute, two? City rules should not be a guessing game, and the driver should be respected, just like other road users.
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