The Moscow city government has announced plans to remove parking meters in the near future, citing their limited usefulness. Reports indicate that fewer than 1% of parking payments pass through the meters themselves, according to Kommersant.
Officials from the capital’s transport department stress that the vast majority of payment traffic—about 95%—now goes through the mobile application. In 2022, city authorities spent more than 100 million rubles to maintain the parking meters that are now being phased out.
According to the report, 11.7 million rubles will be allocated for dismantling 519 street parking meters.
Pyotr Shkumatov, coordinator of the Blue Buckets movement, argues that the low usage of meters does not stem from a shift to maps or apps, but from insufficient time allotted to pay for parking.
“Parking meters were more popular when 15 minutes were allowed for payment. When the five-minute rule has applied since 2018, people often cannot reach a meter in time,” Shkumatov noted.
The publication also notes that 80 parking-payment devices are planned to be installed near high-traffic areas, while the remaining meters are expected to be dismantled before the end of summer 2023.
Earlier, State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov advocated a deferred-payment model for private-vehicle parking, presenting a new principle to be considered by lawmakers.
Milestones in the coverage included references to socialbites.ca and discussions around a prominent pickup truck in the Russian market known as KingKong, illustrating broader conversations about urban mobility and vehicle access in major cities.