Paying for parking in many neighborhoods of Madrid will no longer be just a daytime problem. Starting this month, parking meters will be able to operate at night and also on Sundays and holidays in the city’s most congested neighborhoods. This does not mean that the entire capital will have to pay for parking 24/7, but the new Sustainable Mobility Ordinance (OMS) does open the door to extending the hours of the Regulated Parking Service (SER) beyond 9 p.m. on weekdays, after 3 p.m. on Saturdays, and even activating payment on Sundays where parking demand has skyrocketed.
Until now, the SER operated on a simple schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sundays and holidays, free of charge. With the modification already approved by the Governing Board and to be consolidated by the Plenary in March, the City Council reserves the right to apply extended hours in “high-intensity areas,” i.e., neighborhoods with heavy traffic and vehicle rotation due to their commercial, cultural, tourist, or leisure activities.
The City Council emphasizes that these extensions will not be automatic or general, but rather specific and justified by reports of high demand, and will only remain in place as long as the parking problems that led to the measure persist.
Why the SER hours are being extended in Madrid
Editorial credit: Toyakisphoto | shuteerstock.com
The City Council argues that the change will be to guarantee parking spaces for residents in neighborhoods where visitors’ cars clog up surface parking. By charging for parking at night or on Sundays in these areas, the City Council wants to discourage some of the traffic congestion, encourage the use of public transportation, and increase vehicle turnover.
The measure is part of a broader package of changes. The SER will be extended to 22 neighborhoods (17 new ones) in seven districts, reaching Puente de Vallecas and Moratalaz for the first time, and the total number of regulated parking spaces will increase from around 181,500 to almost 259,000, with the majority of green spaces for residents.
Although the specific list has not yet been published, the City Council has already announced that in March it will begin to study which neighborhoods to apply the new schedules to, focusing on areas where parking demand skyrockets at night and on weekends. The focus is on areas with intense leisure and tourism activity (Centro, Salamanca, Chamberí, Retiro, Arganzuela, areas around large stadiums or cultural venues) and the new SER neighborhoods that will be incorporated in the coming years.
Each extension must be accompanied by technical reports certifying the “high intensity” and, in many cases, by neighborhood consultation processes or agreements in the District Councils, following the model applied to extend the SER to new neighborhoods from 2021.