Contern residents had long complained that non-locals blocked parking spaces, making it near impossible to find a spot for their cars. So on 1 January this year, the council introduced a resident permit, as well as limiting non-resident parking to three hours with the use of a disk.
Six weeks into the regime, the situation has improved quite a bit, says mayor Marion Zovilé-Braquet. Feedback from residents shows they are glad to be able to park closer to home.
There has been criticism, too, and some problems have become apparent. For residents who want to take the bus into Luxembourg City, for example for a doctor’s appointment, three hours is often not long enough.
The council is already working on a solution. A new “bus permit” will be introduced in March, especially for residents who want to use the municipal car park to take the bus onwards. Only the approval from the Ministry is still needed at this point.
A parking agent has been hired to ensure the new system is respected. The first two months, only warnings are issued, allowing everyone to get used to the new rules.
Some people seem to be taking advantage of this. “We give out 30 to 40 warnings a day. [...] Looking into cars, you can see some have already amassed 10 to 20 warnings, lying on the passenger seat,” says the mayor. It remains to be seen how things will evolve once the warnings are replaced by fines. Fact is, however, that six weeks into the new scheme, not many permits have been requested.
The council has had 393 requests, for a total of around 4,000 residents in the municipality. So less than 10 percent currently have a permit. Add to that 10 permits in the categories “professional”, “temporary” or “visitor”. It is fairly likely that more requests will come in once fines are introduced.
