Estepona City Council builds the largest network of public parking lots managed by people with disabilities at a cost of 1 euro per day for the user

The city has 2,300 low-cost parking spaces in five parking lots, which employ some thirty people with functional diversity.

The significant increase in population and visitors that the city of Estepona has experienced in the last decade has led the City Council to act with foresight to avoid one of the main problems faced by coastal tourist towns, especially in high season: the lack of parking. The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, began to design, almost from his arrival to the Mayor’s office, a municipal plan to provide the areas with the highest flow of people with public spaces, closed and guarded, where to park the vehicle, but with the premise of low cost for the pocket of the citizen, thus providing a solution to the existing parking problem in the city.

This is how the Municipal Parking Network was born more than ten years ago at 1 euro during the day (from 9:00 to 21:00 hours you pay 1 euro; and from 21:00 to 9:00 hours, 2 euros) which so far accumulates 2,300 parking spaces distributed in five subway enclosures. An initiative that has placed Estepona as one of the cities in the country where it is cheaper to leave the car in a public parking in rotation.

This network of parking lots is part of the sustainable city model promoted over the last 14 years by the mayor of Estepona. This model is based on urban transformation, revitalization of the old town and investment in infrastructure to improve the quality of life and environmental sustainability. Thus, at the same time that large spaces for pedestrians have been opened up in the city, the needs derived from an increase in the population that also requires a vehicle for its displacements have been taken into account. These new low-cost parking lots have favored mobility in the area.

When designing this parking network, the Consistory of Estepona prioritized those areas of the municipality with the greatest needs, taking into account both the resident population and the concentration of visitors. Thus, in less than a decade, the currently operational parking lots were built: the parking lots in the Plaza Antonia Guerrero, the Athletics Stadium, the Plaza del Ajedrez and the new Town Hall building.

Last summer, the La Viña parking lot, which had been in private hands since 2005 through a municipal concession, joined them. In a new impulse to the plan to continue providing parking facilities, José María García Urbano proposed a few months ago to explore the formula for the recovery, for general use, of the parking spaces that are part of the municipal concessions signed by previous governments with different companies, through the legal mechanism of the rescue, provided that the company agreed. The objective was none other than to continue providing the municipality with new parking spaces for vehicles, given the need arising from the significant population growth experienced by Estepona.

The municipal approach was met by those responsible for the parking La Viña, the company with which the rescue has been formalized, so that this central parking has passed into municipal hands. The decision of the local government team has meant a significant reduction in the cost of parking in this area, which was set at 2.40 euros per hour. Since last August you can park for only 1 euro during all daytime hours. If the vehicle remains parked for 24 hours, the fee is now 3 euros, compared to the 17 euros it cost when it was in private hands.

An initiative with a strong social purpose

The Municipal Parking Plan of Estepona also has a marked and relevant social character, as it has enabled the employment of people with disabilities and functional diversity in the municipality.

These parking lots are managed, based on a collaboration agreement signed by the City Council and the Association for People with Functional Diversity of Estepona, Aprona, by people who have some kind of disability. So far, this agreement has enabled the formalization of up to 37 contracts. Of these, 33 correspond to men and women with some type of disability. All of them are responsible for ensuring that the different municipal facilities are in optimal conditions and attended 24 hours a day.

Given the success of the initiative, the Consistory is still working to expand the network of 2,300 parking spaces at 1 euro during the day. All of them will soon be joined by two new enclosures that are currently under construction and that will add more than 600 parking spaces. One of them, located in the area around the Iglesia del Carmen, will have three subway levels. The other will be part of the Parque Central boulevard, the great project that will culminate the urban transformation of Estepona. The Consistory also plans to build another municipal parking lot -it would be the eighth- for parking in the La Lobilla area.