On September 24, Sofia’s engineer commission discussed the new Parking Regulations for the city. After this, on October 2, Bulgarian-language daily Monitor reported that the final vote on the proposal will be taken at the next Sofia Municipal Council.

The proposal includes allowing only those vehicles whose owners have purchased special parking vignettes to park in Sofia. The vignette will have to be stuck on the front window of the vehicle. The hologram stickers will allow cars to be parked in the “blue zone” but drivers will still have to pay the one lev an hour fee.

However, on October 1, during the engineer’s commission meeting, the city’s councillors postponed the implementation of the parking vignettes in the centre until after the municipal elections, which are scheduled for October 28. The councillors’ argument for postponing the decision was that the new regulations’ texts have to be summarised, as well as the vignette’s prices.

“The regulations are too complicated and there is much to be discussed on them. We should not hurry forward with it,” Sofia chief architect Petur Dikov, who drew up and submitted the parking proposal, said. According to Dikov, the municipality is still not ready to execute such regulations. He also said no one at the municipality would have the will to fine drivers for parking on the pavement or to make the whole of Sofia city centre part of the “blue zone” just before the municipal elections. The rest of the councillors agreed because, according to them, there should be something left for their successors to do.

According to Monitor, the municipal councillors showed that they are afraid of “the anger of their electors”, just before the local elections. The citizens were complaining about the high prices, which were planned to be implemented as part of the new Parking Regulations.

The Parking and Garages chief Nikolay Alexandrov said drivers would only be able to park in the “blue zone” once they had obtained the special parking vignette and they would then have to pay the additional price of one lev an hour. This would mean Sofia citizens will have to pay 350 leva a year for the right just to enter the “blue zone” in the city centre, which they can then only park in for two hours a day, maximum, on a working day. The monthly vignette will cost 35 leva and the weekly – 10 leva.

The people who live in the centre will be provided with special vignettes which will include a chip that will have their address on it. They would have to pay only the price of the hologram sticker, which is 50 leva.

Moreover, the fine for not paying the fee to park in the “blue zone” or for a missing parking vignette is proposed at 50 leva. Currently the fine for parking without paying is 30 leva.

The new Parking Regulations also propose to ban old cars from the city centre. All vehicles will be very closely checked to establish whether they meet all necessary European Union norms and standards and what quantity of pollutants they emit in the atmosphere.

During the engineers’ commission meeting Dikov said that parking on pavements would also be banned completely and any violators will have to pay a 200 leva fine, according to the new regulation. Drivers who have parked in a place designed for disabled people or in front of a shopping centre will have to pay the same amount. Those stopping their car in a green area, small city garden or park will have to pay a 500 leva fine. Drivers who accidentally, or not so accidentally, knock down a traffic sign or board while they are parking will be charged the same amount.

If it is approved, the Regulations will come into effect at the same time the whole of Sofia centre becomes part of the “blue zone”. According to the local municipality, this will  happen before the end of 2007.

The parking vignette will not be necessary for the parts of the “blue zone” that are not in the centre. However, in the whole city, parking will only be allowed in the designated parking areas.

In addition, the new Parking Regulations allow for one-third of the parking places in front of hospitals and hotels to be “booked” for taxis.