OSLO, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The price of residential parking in Norway's capital city Oslo will be increased from 300 kroner (38.35 U.S. dollars) to 3,000 kroner a year, which will give revenues of more than 90 million kroner a year to the municipality, newspaper Aftenposten reported Monday.
During autumn and next year, residential parking will be implemented on a total of 17,850 of the 21,550 parking areas in the city, many of which allowed free parking so far.
This income shall go directly to the Parking Fund, which is used for street works, road maintenance, charging points for electric vehicles and bicycle accessibility.
For 3,000 kroner a year, residents shall be able to park freely in the neighborhood and stand as long as they want -- if they find a place. Visitors will have to pay for the actual duration of parking and follow the time limits.
"I thought it was a printing error when I saw the price. It is pointlessly expensive and makes it almost impossible to have a car," said Arne Hagesen, resident of Oslo's central area of Majorstuen.
Oyvind Michelsen, a district politician in the Old Oslo, agreed with Hagesen, adding that he had received similar reactions from many residents in the district to the news that he called "tricky arrangement."
"For the residents, if they will have a residential parking permit, they must have a place to park. But we will only get a loose agreement with the municipality. In that case it will be an agreement to park nowhere," he told Aftenposten.
Daniel Rees, City Council secretary for Vice Mayor for Environment and Transport Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, said car owners who use parking spaces should pay for them.
"Those who use space for the car should pay for it. Many already have to pay for a place in a car park," Rees said. "A space in downtown Oslo is worth a lot. 3,000 kroner per year is on the same level as the price in other cities with a similar arrangement and a real price." (1 U.S. dollar=7.82 Norwegian kroner)
