Parking on three arteries in Porto’s industrial zone will begin to be charged during the month of February. On Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo and streets Manuel Pinto de Azevedo and Eng. Ferreira Dias, 512 new paid parking spaces were formalized, which, until now, were not delimited.
The announcement that parking in the industrial area would start to be charged was made two weeks ago by the Porto City Council, but no date was announced. At last Monday’s executive meeting, councilor Pedro Baganha, who is responsible for Urbanism and Public Space, said it was “likely” that the measure would be implemented during the month of February.
Regarding Porto Canal, the municipality led by Rui Moreira specifies that on Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo there will now be 81 paid spaces. A number that increases on Rua Manuel Pinto de Azevedo, with 192 spaces, and on Rua do Eng. Ferreira Dias, where there are 239 spaces. In total, 512 parking spaces on public roads are now covered.
Parking meters have already been installed and the lowest rate will be charged. One hour will cost €0.40 and a full day (10 hours) €2.40.
Measure “is not friendly for those who use the area”, recognizes Porto City Council
On the sidelines of the meeting, speaking to journalists, Pedro Baganha admitted that this is not a “friendly” measure for users of the area, which is mainly occupied by companies, but he justified it. According to the councilor, the decision to implement paid parking in the Industrial Zone is “necessary” and is part of a city policy and an “effort to manage and organize public space”.
The objective is to discourage the use of individual transport and encourage the use of soft modes and public transport. For the mayor, the municipality cannot have a speech in which it states that one of the city’s mobility problems is the excessive use of private cars to the detriment of public public transport and then in “areas that are so well served” such as the industrial zone – with bus and metro lines – the promotion of public transport will not be done.
Porto’s Industrial Zone is served by buses from the STCP network and by two Porto Metro stations: Francos and Viso.
There are currently a total of 11,500 paid parking spaces across the city. 8,800 are concessioned to the company EPorto and the remaining 2,700 are located in the western zone, where the municipality itself, through the Municipal Police, is responsible for collecting fines for abusive parking.
New zone provided for in the current concession contract
The new paid parking area in Porto’s Industrial Zone is part of the current concession contract that has been in force since 2016 between Porto City Council and EPorto, a company from the Empark group.
Questioned by Porto Canal, a source from Porto City Council said that the decision to create 512 new paid parking spaces does not imply a review of the concession contract and was already included in the initial version of the document.
PCP and Bloco oppose the proposal
At the last executive meeting, the CDU sought to stop parking charges with a proposal in which it asked the municipality to keep the area free of parking meters. The proposal was rejected with votes against by independents and PS and PSD councilors.
Councilor Ilda Figueiredo defended the communist proposal with the “costs that all this will have for workers in the area who are the main ones affected”.
The CDU elected member considers that, even though only €2.40 is charged for a full day, the bill is heavy at the end of the month in relation to workers’ low wages. As an alternative, the party wants more construction of parking lots in peripheral areas of the city so that cars do not enter the areas most affected by traffic.
For blocker Maria Manuel Rola, who voted in favor of the proposal, the public space in this area has not been intervened to justify paying for parking.
“We are going to charge when the sidewalks are not usable, there is no cycle path, there is not a whole set of materials that could actually be used as a public space”, he considered.