Car owners will once again pay for parking in the central Stellenbosch area. This comes as paid parking services were temporarily suspended due to the national lockdown.
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch Municipality is considering a decrease in the price of parking tariffs, after a number of car owners requested that high parking tariffs be lowered.
The commencement of parking tariffs in Stellenbosch, which was initially due to begin again on 1 September, was postponed to 14 September, said Stuart Grobbelaar, Stellenbosch Municipality communications manager. This was owing to a challenge on the side of the service provider, he said.
Parking marshals have now returned for off-street parking this week and are expected to return for on-street parking from next week, said Grobbelaar.
Street Parking Solutions Stellenbosch, the company that is contracted to provide parking marshals, declined to comment.
“Many businesses approached the municipality to request that the service resumes as it leads to a much higher turnover of available parking spaces close to their businesses. Without any form of payment, parking spaces are occupied for hours on end,” said Grobbelaar.
But according to Dawid Bekker, the manager of Tosca Salon Stellenbosch, parking marshals do little to ease the parking problems in the area.
“We’ve been complaining for the past seven years. We’ve actually lost clients because of no parking. When a client needs to park there’s no parking in front of the salon or anywhere near the salon,” Bekker said.
Too much to park
The reduction in tariff rates was considered due to the financial strain many residents already face, Grobbelaar said.
“In the face of the economic hardships faced by many residents and businesses, the council decided to consider the lowering of parking tariffs,” he said.
The high prices of tariffs cause issues for clients and businesses alike, Curt Justin, a tattoo artist at Disciples Ink Stellenbosch, said.
“When we park at the parking lot, we have to pay for a day. It’s a ridiculous amount of money [to pay] to park here,” Justin said.
UPDATE: Announced via the Stellenbosch Municipality Twitter page, a 20% tariff reduction has been approved by the Stellenbosch Council. The reduction is applicable to both on-street and off-street parking, from 21 September.