Prague Airport changes parking services from May, shortens the period of free parking

Prague's Václav Havel Airport will change its parking services from May. The time for free passage through the express car parks will be reduced from the current 15 minutes to ten minutes once a day. The new price list will charge for parking over ten minutes in 15-minute intervals instead of the previous 30 minutes. The PB Economy car park in front of Terminal 2 will become the third express car park from May, with 70 new parking spaces, and passengers will use it for arrivals to Terminal 2, the airport announced yesterday.

According to airport data, about 90 percent of drivers currently exit the express parking lot within 10 minutes. "The change will therefore affect a small number of our customers," said Jakub Puchalský, a member of Prague Airport's board of directors.

The original 30 minutes of parking at express car parks P1 and P2 costs CZK 100 until the end of April. Drivers will now be charged after 15 minutes. Drivers will pay CZK 50 for 15 minutes of parking. In the case of parking lasting less than one hour, drivers will not pay more for parking with the change of the system.

All car parks at the airport will now have the option of paying directly at the exit stands. According to Puchalski, payment will be possible by contactless card or mobile phone via QR code. The barriers are now equipped with traffic lights and more accurate cameras for reading registration plates. The airport will also install new cameras in parking houses, where cars will be allowed in via a pre-registered number plate after prior reservation.

In addition to the new parking spaces, the PB car park, with its change to an express car park, will also get a new taxi waiting area to be used by passengers who do not want to take the airport's official taxi service, Uber. The total number of spaces in all three express car parks will increase to 350. Short-term passengers can park in the PC comfort parking house with a price of CZK 80 per hour of parking.

The airport also plans to offer taxi drivers a new Taxi Card from May, replacing the existing value cards. According to the airport, the card is intended to offer discounted parking fares to non-Uber taxi drivers who comply with the airport's established rules for offering services.

Uber's competitor, taxi service Liftago, has repeatedly asked the airport for information on the new prices, according to the company's CEO Radek Svíčka. "Even three weeks before the new prices for value cards for taxi drivers are not known, which unnecessarily causes a lot of speculation and uncertainty among drivers," he told ČTK. He described any price increase for other services outside Uber as a liquidation of competition. Due to regulation from the Prague City Hall, taxi drivers cannot charge clients.

But according to Prague Airport spokesman Michal Procházka, the new Taxi Card prices have been available on the airport's website since last week. "Taxi drivers should be able to pick up a client within half an hour. Given the limited capacity of the parking lots, we don't even want them to stay longer," Procházka added.

Source: CTK