In a city where traffic and parking issues have always been hotly debated, city center parking garage fees are an unfamiliar haven of stability. It’s true that you can still hear the outcry when the fees rose, to about two euros per hour or part thereof in the Römer car park or to EUR 2.50 in the underground car park under Goetheplatz.
But that was more than eight years ago. “Since January 1, 2014, we have not increased the price for short-term parkers,” says Michael Bachmann, Managing Director of Parkhaus-Betriebsgesellschaft (PBG), which operates 32 parking garages in Frankfurt with 18,000 spaces. These include private garages, but 80 percent belong to the city. There the magistrate determines the amount of the fees. And these are comparatively stable, while street parking fees rose to four euros an hour in 2019.
The private operator Apcoa also has its most prominent location in the heart of the city with the underground car park of the My Zeil shopping center. Different tariffs have recently been in force there on the four parking levels. Level A shows the “premium rate” of five euros per hour started, the maximum fee for a day is 39 euros. One floor below it is three euros and a maximum of 30 euros a day.
improve occupancy
Anyone who keeps fit by climbing stairs or accepts a ride in the elevator with a possible waiting time comes off much cheaper. The hour started on the two lower levels C and D costs one euro. The maximum fee for one day is ten euros. A night rate of four euros applies on all four levels from 6 p.m. Users of Apcoa’s “Flow” app generally pay one euro for each hour started.
According to Hansjörg Votteler, Managing Director of the Stuttgart-based company Apcoa Parking Deutschland, the new tariff system should improve utilization. “With the new price structure, we offer the right tariff for every need.”
So far, the My Zeil underground car park has been one of the most expensive in Frankfurt. In addition, there was a flexible system in which prices were based on capacity utilization. Two or 2.50 euros could be due for half an hour. “Dynamic pricing” caused a few surprises among drivers, but according to Apcoa, it has basically proven its worth and is used at 70 locations. A few years ago, the parking time hour was only 50 minutes, now it’s 60 again.
Top up in My Zeil
Irrespective of the respective prices, the utilization of the multi-storey car parks has generally suffered during the corona pandemic. “We noticed every corona measure,” says PBG Managing Director Bachmann. In the meantime, however, the urban society is “not dissatisfied” with the occupancy in the city center. A dent in the summer holidays is typical, but he is “very confident” for September. There is a persistently high demand for long-term parking spaces anyway.
In order to make the multi-storey car parks more attractive, they are being technically upgraded, for example with license plate recognition, which means that you no longer need a parking ticket when entering and exiting. It was installed in seven city houses, and others followed, says Bachmann. Since the beginning of the year, you can also pay with your smartphone. In the My Zeil car park, Apcoa offers license plate recognition for long-term parkers and app users. It’s available all over the place there, too. Charging points for electric cars are among the other technical investments. By the end of next year there should be 300 in eleven public car parks instead of the previous 16.
How to use underground car parks correctly?
There are also four charging stations in My Zeil, and the company offers a total of 57 stations in eight properties in Frankfurt. The considerations of using parking garages for more than just parking cars go particularly far at Apcoa. In My Zeil, for example, you can have your car washed while you are shopping.
Under the keyword “Urban Hub”, a textile service provider for workwear in Berlin and Hamburg also uses underground car parks as transshipment points in order to then deliver the laundry with electric cargo bikes and electric vehicles. In Hamburg and Cologne, Apcoa works with the parcel service UPS, which has set up micro-depots in multi-storey car parks for handling parcels. Here, too, deliveries are made via cargo bikes. Apcoa speaks of a contribution to sustainable city logistics.
The municipal car park operating company, which belongs to ABG Holding, is also thinking about how underground car parks could also be used. Two years ago, the town center council called for the use of space on the ground floor of the Hauptwache and Konstablerwache car parks to park bicycles, cargo bikes and electric carsharing cars. According to Bachmann, the limits are usually set by the construction of the multi-storey car parks built in the 1950s and 1970s. There are no large ancillary areas to set up a packing station, for example. It is also difficult to mix cars and bicycles if there is only one access ramp, which is often steep. “That’s difficult in existing garages,” says the managing director.
