Madrid will charge parking meters after 9 p.m. in saturated neighborhoods

As ABC advances, the government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida seeks with this measure to respond to the complaints of residents of neighborhoods where high commercial and leisure activity makes it difficult to find a parking space on the street. To this end, the Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility sector will be responsible for studying which areas have the greatest saturation to apply the expansion of the SER and thus “guarantee the availability of parking for residents in neighborhoods which concentrate a large share of commercial, cultural, sporting, tourist and leisure activities”.

In any case, the map that draws the area will not be a still photo. Well, the areas could vary and the extended hours will be maintained only as long as the situation of high demand for parking that justified its creation persists, given that the new measure responds to “the need to guarantee the availability of parking for residents in neighborhoods that concentrate intense commercial, cultural, sporting, tourist and leisure activity, causing a high influx of visitors”.

With the extension of the Regulated Parking Area (RAA), as established in article 49.1 of the ordinance in force, the municipality is pursuing a dual objective. First, “balance the availability of parking for residents with the necessary rotation on public roads”. And, secondly, “contribute to the protection of health, the improvement of air quality and the increase in the environmental and energy sustainability of the city,” as Cibeles reports.

Another novelty brought by the modification of the ordinance is the extension of the SER to 22 other districts of Madrid, including 17 new ones. As stated in the regulations, this expansion of parking meters will be carried out gradually and provided that it has the support of neighbors and the corresponding district council.

Thus, before December 31, 2029, it will reach the neighborhoods already provided for in the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance approved in September 2021, adding 11,372 places: Peñagrande, in Fuencarral-El Pardo; Valdezarza, from Moncloa-Aravaca; Opañel and San Isidro, from Carabanchel, and Costillares, from Ciudad Lineal.

Likewise, before December 31, 2035, the expansion will continue for the new areas included in the project approved this Thursday, adding 66,120 new places: Valverde, in Fuencarral-El Pardo; Lucero, Aluche, Los Cármenes and Puerta del Ángel, in the Latina district; Puerta Bonita, Abrantes, San Isidro, Opañel and Vista Alegre, from Carabanchel; Zofío and Orcasur, from Usera; Pueblo Nuevo, Quintana, Concepcion, of Ciudad Lineal; Marroquina, Fontarrón, Vinateros and Media Legua, from Moratalaz, and San Diego, Palomeras Bajas and Numancia, from Puente de Vallecas.

Cars without labels, pending

The extension of the SER, in timetables and in the territory, is one of the fundamental axes of the future mobility order. But not the only one. In fact, low-emission zones are part of a fundamental pillar of the standard which will be known in full this Thursday, once approved by the Government Council. It is then that delegate Borja Carabante will reveal the future of vehicles without labels registered in Madrid, the circulation of which will be prohibited from January 1, 2026.

However, it is possible that the municipality will grant an extension to these few cases until the mobility ordinance comes into force, probably for the month of March or April. In fact, it was the low-emission zones that led Vox to appeal the entire mobility ordinance which the court partially overturned. Thus, Almeida presents this Thursday a new rule with which he seeks to correct the errors of the previous one.