January 22, 2019 - Marko Bartulić, director of the company Split Parking, answered questions for Dalmacija Danas about how the Split Parking handles the many inquiries submitted to them by citizens, and what the plans are for parking in Split moving forward.
“The citizens have a lot of objections, and most of them have inquiries for Split Parking. I believe that citizens often interfere with the powers of Split Parking and the authority of the traffic police. On Monday night at the council meeting, we saw that much of what the citizens complain about is not within the jurisdiction of Split Parking. Of course, when it comes up, it can be interpreted as a kind of 'ping-pong'. However, I cannot make decisions that are not in my jurisdiction because we are only implementing the decisions of the City Council. We could not change that. What we can do is propose, and that is why we are holding these forums for districts. At the forums, we talk to citizens about coming up with solutions that we will propose to city authorities who will then submit proposals to the City Council.”
There have been several different proposals to solve the parking problem for the inhabitants of Split's old city core, and it seems that most councilors would support the idea of free parking for tenants. Would that be a big hit on the Split Parking budget?
“We do not know the numbers at all. They've mentioned 1000 tenants of the old city core and 200 vehicles. I do not think any decision of the City Council can jeopardize the stability of Split Parking, but we must also consider the following: Split Parking is exclusively funding nine garages with 2,200 parking spaces. The total investment is 80 million kuna.”
What could Bartulić tell us about the garages?
“There will an architectural contest, and if not published today, it will be released this week. After that comes the conceptual solution, and then we will announce a tender.”
When do you expect the first garage to be implemented?
“The nine garages would be built in parallel. The construction sites will not open at the same time, and I do not know which company can do it. They will surely be built according to the priorities, where the fastest building permit can be obtained, where it is the ‘cleanest’. I believe that existing garages are probably the most likely to be expanded.”
How many parking spaces does Split currently have?
“According to HAK data, Split has 92,000 registered vehicles. So, we are not talking about Solin, Kaštela and Podstrana, but only about Split. When we estimate that Split has 22,000 legal parking spots, then you see the problem. This will not be solved overnight or by building a garage, but with smart solutions.”
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