A Year in Uruguay

Most of the streetside parking in Montevideo is free-- requiring just a tip for the cuidacoche-- but some streets, particularly in the Ciudad Vieja and the Centro require payment. These are marked by a round sign with a big letter E above the word tarifado.

The system seems a little complicated. First you find a parking spot. Then you look for a kiosko or a store that sells fichas for the parking machines. These cost about a dollar each and buy 30 minutes of parking. (The time per ficha varies with the zone.) Then you look for a machine and use the fichas to buy a little ticket that you put on your dashboard. (Sometimes you need to try second machine because the first one is broken.)



The city government plans to extend this system to other neighborhoods, like Pocitos, where the street parking is congested. The price mechanism does seem to prevent overcrowding-- when I went to the old city for lunch yesterday, I was the only one parked on the entire block.

Labels: cars, government, Uruguay