Street parking fee collection in HCMC problematic

However, three weeks later, the city had earned only VND220 million from the fee hike, reaching 3% of the estimate, noted Ngo Hai Duong, head of the Road Infrastructure Management and Exploitation Division under the HCM  City Department of Transport.

Other flaws have also been pinpointed, including problems in the parking fee collection system and in the coordination between the agencies collecting the fee and those guiding the fee collection.

Besides this, some collecting agencies work during office hours only, while the HCM City People’s Council had expected fee collection to run from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.

Some drivers have even avoided paying the parking fee, causing losses of up to 50-60% of the total revenue, Duong added.

A few car owners parked their vehicles in the parking lots of commercial centers and hotels where the parking fee is 20-30% lower than that in parking spaces on roadways.

According to Vo Khanh Hung, deputy director of the municipal Department of Transport, some staff members managing street parking have not been enthusiastic in instructing car owners to install the fee-collection app and to park their vehicles in vacant spaces.

Therefore, the department has proposed the municipal People’s Committee assign Voluntary Youth Public Benefit Service Co., Ltd, to collect the fee.

Nonetheless, traffic congestion on these 23 streets in the city has been eased. In addition, technology application has helped change the mode of parking fee payment by car owners.

The plan to allow cars to be parked on roadways is aimed at curbing traffic congestion in the city, making use of these roadways and raising the feasibility of public parking lot projects.

The HCM City People’s Council had approved a minimum parking fee of VND20,000 per car for the first hour in District 10 and VND25,000 per car in Districts 1 and 5.

The fee is collected via an app called My Parking or through the service number 1008.