The Hague, capital of the Netherlands, has set what may be the world’s most expensive price for parking on its downtown streets, with a €50 charge even for a 10-minute run into a store.
The rate, which also applies to its beach suburb of Scheveningen, is designed to discourage visitors and shoppers and free up spaces for locals who have street parking permits. The city wants visitors to use a nearby multi-story car park that is under construction.
The price is a jump from the previous €10, which apparently wasn’t stiff enough to clear the curbs. The measure pleases local residents such as Marieke de Jong, from the Oude Centrum residents’ association, whoo said most locals backed the plan. ‘You can’t park anywhere, you have to wait for someone to get in their car and leave,’ she said.
Local merchants, as might be expected, take a different view; one liquor store owner in the city center told reporters that ‘It won’t make doing business easier if people are going out of the door with a box that weighs around 10 kilos.’
