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In no other Swiss city can you get a parking space for 12 months for less money than in Riehen BS.
Those who live in the city often do not have a parking space directly in front of the door or in the underground car park. Instead, many buy a parking card for the blue zones or white marked parking spaces from their municipality.
Depending on where you live, you have to dig deeper or less deep into your wallet. A comparison of the 40 largest cities shows that prices vary between 8 and over 1000 francs a year.
The cheapest: Big cities and Romandy
In no other Swiss city can you get a parking space for less than in Riehen BS for twelve months. You only have to pay 40 francs for a card that is valid for five years. Makes eight francs a year.
That was a conscious decision, explains local councilor Daniel Hettich. “The local community decided at the time that it should only be the cost of creating the parking card.”
In neighboring Basel, too, the price is relatively low at 284 francs, just like in the two other German-speaking Swiss cities of Zurich and Bern. But that could change soon: in Zurich, the government wants to increase the costs to 540 francs; and in Bern only two complaints are holding up the decision to increase the fee to 492 francs. What is also noticeable: Parking is often cheaper in western Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland.
The midfield: Specification of the price supervisor
According to the price monitor’s new cost model, annual subscriptions of over 400 francs are generally too high for long-term parkers, regardless of whether these fees are charged in a small town or in an expensive and large city like Zurich. And indeed: Many of the 40 largest Swiss cities range in annual parking tickets between 320 and 400 francs.
Price monitor Meierhans also legitimizes his calculation with the idea of solidarity: “The rich have a garage or a parking space themselves. Resident parking card holders are mostly people who work shifts or have special jobs and have a smaller wallet.”
Stéphanie Penher, Head of Transport Policy and Campaigns at the Swiss Transport Club (VCS), also identifies other needs within the urban population. “The vote in the city of Bern this summer, where two-thirds said yes to higher parking ticket prices, shows that public space can be used differently.”
The most expensive: Outliers in the big cities, expensive Lake Zurich area
In eleven of the largest Swiss municipalities, however, the annual subscription costs significantly more than suggested by the price monitor – in some cases even twice as much. With Lausanne, Winterthur and Lucerne, three large cities are also included. At the very top are two small towns from the canton of Zurich – Wetzikon and Wädenswil – and the neighboring Rapperswil-Jona. You have to shell out around CHF 1,000 per year for a parking space there.
It is surprising that the bourgeois-dominated community of Wetzikon is so far behind its canton neighbors Zurich and Winterthur – where parking spaces have been a contentious issue for years – in terms of prices. But as city councilor Christine Walter Walder (Green Party) explains to SRF, the prices have been confirmed several times – most recently in 2018 – by the city parliament. But she also adds: “We will now, together with the price supervisor, go over the books.”
Note: The following cities are also among the 40 largest in the state, but either do not issue annual parking permits or do not publish the relevant information: Bellinzona, Meyrin GE, Baar ZG, Horgen ZH, Wil SG.