The new fee regulations for resident parking in the city of Aachen come into force on May 1. From this date, the city will charge higher fees for newly issued and amended resident parking permits.

From the beginning of May, the fee due will be calculated according to the area occupied by a vehicle on the road, i.e. according to length and width. A fee of 30 euros will be charged for each square meter occupied. There is also an administrative fee of 15 euros for the application. In future, the costs will be based on the economic value of the parking spaces in public areas and the production and maintenance costs for parking spaces.

On June 26, 2024, the Aachen City Council adopted the statutes and the ordinance on the issuing of resident parking permits by a majority of 36 votes in favour and 15 against. It instructed the administration to adapt the online application via the City of Aachen's service portal. The technical adjustments to the online portal have now been completed.

More people can apply for ID cards

The new regulation and fee statutes for resident parking also extend the circle of people who can obtain resident parking permits in Aachen. The group of entitled persons defined in the statutes includes all persons who are registered as having their main or secondary residence in a resident parking zone in Aachen and who also live there.

Applicants must be the owner of the specified vehicle or be able to prove that they use it permanently. This means that trainees without an additional public transport subscription, car subscription users and secondary residents can now also apply for a resident parking permit if they can prove that they use their vehicle permanently.

The new ID card can now be applied for online for three, six or twelve months via the City of Aachen's service portal. If citizens need assistance with the online application and registration via BundID, the Servicecenter Call Aachen is available on the public authority number 115. The resident parking permit can also be purchased in person at the Citizens' Service Center.

All resident parking permits already issued will remain valid until the end of their term. There will be no subsequent demand for fees based on the new fee invoice. However, if the currently valid resident parking permit is changed from May 1, 2025, the new regulation will apply. Authorized persons can apply for a new permit at the earliest one month before the previous permit expires.

Legal background:

The adaptation of resident parking in Aachen is based on the following development of the legal framework.

On May 14, 2020, the Bundestag passed the "Eighth Act to Amend the Federal Trunk Roads Act and Other Regulations". This included the importance of public areas used for parking, their economic value and the general benefit for residents in the consideration of charges.

In Article 2, the Road Traffic Act was amended to allow the state governments to issue fee regulations for the issuance of resident parking permits. These regulations should also take appropriate account of the importance of the parking facilities, their economic value or the other benefits of the parking facilities for residents.

The amount of the possible fee was expressly not limited. The federal states were given the option of transferring the amount of the fee to be set directly to the local authorities so that they can issue their own local fee regulations.

In doing so, the federal legislator followed the long-standing initiatives of municipalities and municipal associations such as the German Association of Cities. They had campaigned for an increase in the municipalities' scope for action, also with regard to the assessment of public spaces.

The federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) transposed the federal law into state law with the "Ordinance amending the ordinance on responsibilities in the area of road traffic and goods transport" dated February 19, 2022. In doing so, it decided to give the municipalities the power to shape the law. This has long been common practice in other federal states, such as Baden-Württemberg.

With this amendment, the state government allowed the responsible local regulatory authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia to independently set the level of charges for resident parking and to draw up a scale of charges. In accordance with Section 6a, Para. 5a, Sentence 3 of the Road Traffic Act (StVG), the importance of the parking facilities, their economic value and the other benefits of the parking facilities for residents can now be taken into account appropriately in addition to the administrative costs.

www.aachen.de/bewohnerparken