Santa Cruz Extends Paid Parking Consultation
Santa Cruz City Council has extended its public consultation until January 1st for new street parking rules, including paid blue and resident-only green zones, to gather more public input on tackling the city's significant traffic and parking challenges.
The Santa Cruz City Council wants more people to have a say in new street parking rules. These rules, which will start next year, will introduce paid parking zones: blue zones for everyone and green zones for residents. To get more public input, the council has extended the public consultation for the Regulated Parking Zone (ZER) project until January 1st.
Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez explained that this consultation, which started yesterday on the Citizen Participation website, aims to collect "more ideas, experiences, and opinions" for the new rules. He added that Santa Cruz faces a big challenge with traffic and parking, and they want to tackle it together, with everyone agreeing on the problem and the solution.
There was an earlier public consultation on this plan last February, which gathered initial feedback. The current decision to extend the consultation follows Article 133.1 of Law 39/2015. This law requires authorities to get opinions from citizens and anyone who might be affected before writing new regulations.
During this early stage, the council needs to identify current problems, why this plan is needed, what it aims to achieve, and other possible solutions (both official rules and other options). Since the new ZER rules will impact residents and thousands of daily visitors – people coming to work, study, shop, or enjoy the city – extending the consultation is crucial to get more public involvement.
Mayor Bermúdez also stated that the ZER isn't just a standalone measure. Instead, it's a vital step to better organize public spaces, help residents, ensure parking spots become available more often in busy areas, and support more eco-friendly travel. He also commended the city departments for their technical work and teamwork in making sure the consultation is clear, easy to access, and helpful for everyone.
Evelyn Alonso, the Mobility Councilor, pointed out that data shows Santa Cruz needs a good way to manage parking, especially in very busy areas where spaces rarely free up. She believes these new rules will help balance how public space is used, benefit residents, and make it easier to reach shops and services. These are all key steps for the city to achieve more organized and efficient transport, in line with its Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS).
Alonso stressed that this public consultation ensures everyone involved can contribute to writing the rules from the very beginning. This makes the process more transparent and helps decisions be based on facts.
Santa Cruz has a major parking problem, particularly in the Centro-Ifara and Salud-La Salle areas, where over 90% of street parking spots are usually taken. While the city has around 65,000 on-street parking spaces and almost 173,000 in total, they aren't spread out evenly. This causes issues in residential, shopping, and administrative districts.
On top of this, many people commute into the city daily from other towns. This increases the demand for parking from non-residents and creates "agitation traffic" – cars driving around looking for a space – which makes up about 30% of city traffic. This leads to wasted time, traffic jams, more fuel use, and higher pollution. When cars stay parked for too long, it also makes it harder to get to shops, public services, and government offices. The city also sees public spaces being used for parking for extended periods and sidewalks being blocked.