The City Hall of the Capital wants to pick up illegally parked cars in the central area again. “An essential service to maintain order” / How much recovery will cost
The City Hall of the Capital wants to establish a public service for picking up, transporting and storing illegally parked cars in the central area, according to a project under public debate. According to this plan, the service will be delegated to the Bucharest Municipal Parking Company, which manages the blue parking lots, and will become operational in approximately 10-11 months.
- The proposed rate for car recovery is a minimum of 1,000 lei, below that of Vienna and above that of Barcelona, other European cities that have these measures.
“Irregular parking is one of the main disturbing factors of urban mobility. An efficient pick-up service is essential for maintaining road order, a goal that cannot be achieved with alternative means (warning, fine) in the absence of a sanction with immediate effect on the continuity of the contravention act”, he writes in the substantiation study for the establishment of the service.
In 2025, the Local Police gave 17,000 sanctions for irregular stops/stations, their cumulative value being about 13 million lei.
The main arguments for establishing the service are:
- blocking public transport by illegally parked cars
- obstruction of visibility
- removing pedestrians from the roadway
- indirect economic costs – the estimated cost of congestion in Bucharest is estimated at over 600 euros/year/driver, the increase in pollutant emissions, noise pollution.
Bus service affected by illegally parked cars
“The operational data of the STB shows hundreds of annual incidents of bus immobilization and
trolleybuses. The duration of the blockages varies between 6-8 minutes and over an hour (eg: 74 minutes on Str. Nicolae Golescu, 90 minutes on Str. lonel Perlea). The most frequently disrupted lines: 368, 42, 21 90 and 70. Critical streets: Episcopiei, Nicolae Golescu, Calea Moșilor, lonel Perlea”, it is written in the substantiation study.
The critical areas in 2025 were:
- Piata Unirii-Bd. Unirii – bd. IC Brătianu
- University Square-Old Center
- Piața Romană-Piața Victoriei-Calea Victoriei
- Ștefan Cel Mare Road-Mihai Bravu Road
- Independence Splai-Union Splai
Five special vehicles for lifting cars. How many can be raised in a day
In the substantiation study, it is written that delegating the service to the Bucharest Municipal Parking Company is the best option because it can be done quickly, and the revenues generated remain in the public circuit.
The company already has 5 trucks for picking up cars. Thus, almost 11,000 cars could be lifted per year, an average of 30/day.
The operating cost of the service is estimated at 9-10 million lei/year, to which are added investments of 18 million lei in the first year, in new special vehicles, digitization, etc.
According to the feasibility study, the service would be operational in at least 10 months. In the first two months, action will be taken in 3 pilot areas – Unirii Square, University Square, Victoriei Square, and then in the entire central area.
More precisely, it is about the area bounded by bd. Iancu de Hunedoara, Ștefan cel Mare Road, Mihai bravu Road, Splaiul Unirii, bd. Gheorghe Șincai, Șerban Vodă Street, Viilor Street, Tudor Vladimirescu Boulevard, Panduri Boulevard, Geniului Boulevard, Grozăvești Street, Basarab Passage, Nicolae Titulescu Street, Victoriei Square.
The recovery fee starts at 1,000 lei. How is it in other European cities
The proposed rate is 200 euros/1000 lei. In Vienna it is 280 euros, in Barcelona -180 euros, in Prague – 70 euros, in Warsaw – 100 euros, according to the substantiation study.
Broken down, the proposed tariff of 1,000 lei looks like this for cars smaller than 5 tons:
- the pick-up fee is 400 lei
- transport fee – 300 lei
- storage for the first 24 hours – 300 lei.
- if the car is left at the warehouse for more than 24 hours, an additional 150 lei is charged for each additional day.
The City Hall of the Capital began to pick up illegally parked cars in 2019, when a General Council decision was adopted in this regard. The cars were picked up by Compania Municipală Managementul Traficului SA, and the rate approved in 2019 for picking up, transporting and storing cars is 500 lei.
From 2021, however, the activity was suspended because, with a few exceptions, the municipal companies entered the liquidation procedure.
In 2022, the General Council also allowed the sector town halls to pick up the cars that are illegally parked on the main streets of the Capital, under the administration of the Bucharest City Hall (PMB). But the Capital City Hall stopped picking up cars. Sectors are picking up cars, but the central area still has problems.
According to the data communicated by the District Town Halls at the request of HotNews.ro, in 2025 the following were raised:
- Sector 1- 1,518 cars;
- Sector 2 – 184 cars;
- Sector 3 – 7,437 cars;
- Sector 4 – 10,191 carsM
- Sector 5 – did not raise;
- Sector 6 – did not provide data.
