The new Sustainable Mobility Ordinance, which Madrid City Council plans to approve this Thursday, will bring new functionalities to the Regulated Parking Service (SER), which will be able to overcome its current limits to expand to up to 22 new neighborhoods in the capital.
The Government Council will give the green light this Thursday to the extension of parking meters in different areas of seven districts. The expansion will be carried out gradually and to the extent that there is a favorable agreement from the Prefecture, after consultation with local residents and associations, indicate sources from the Mobility zone. In the latest extensions, the city council used voting on the citizen participation site Decide Madrid to find out the opinions of Madrid residents.
The extensions of the green and blue zones will take place at two speeds: before the end of 2029, they will be able to reach the neighborhoods already provided for in the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance approved in September 2021: Peñagrande (Fuencarral-El Pardo), all of Valdezarza (Moncloa), Opañel and the rest of San Isidro (Carabanchel), and Costillares (Ciudad Lineal). A total of 11,372 spaces can be added to the on-street parking system.
In a second phase, until the end of 2035, the SER will be able for the first time to reach neighborhoods like Puente de Vallecas, where its residents recently spoke out by giving the green light to parking meters in the San Diego neighborhood but rejecting it in the rest. However, the City Council hopes to be able to extend it also to Palomeras Bajas and Numancia, which is why it includes this possibility in the modification of the ordinance.
Other neighborhoods where green and blue paint will be able to reach the roads will be those of Valverde (Fuencarral), Lucero, Aluche, the rest of Los Cármenes (Latina), Puerta Bonita, Abrantes, San Isidro, Opañel and Vista Alegre (Carabanchel), Zofío and Orcasur (Usera), the other neighborhoods of Pueblo Nuevo, Quintana and Concepción (Ciudad Lineal), Marroquina, Fontarrón, Vinateros and Media Legua (Moratalaz).
This second expansion would add 66,120 new spaces, the majority for residents. This represents an increase of 36% compared to the current inventory, which reaches 181,493 places. The first expansion would add just over 6%.
SER with extended hours in high intensity areas
Another novelty brought by the modification of the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance initially approved this Thursday is the possibility of extending the hours and days of application of the Regulated Parking Service in high-intensity areas, that is to say those with a high demand for parking.
The Governing Board may agree to extend opening hours beyond 9:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, and from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday., as well as Sundays and public holidays. This schedule will be maintained as long as the situation of high parking demand which justified its implementation persists.
The initiative, explained by the Mobility sector, 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 strong influx of visitors. The idea is to balance the availability of parking for residents with the necessary rotation on public roads.
Madrid City Hall thus hopes to improve the organization of traffic, in addition to contributing to the protection of health, the improvement of air quality and the increase in the environmental and energy sustainability of the city.
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