Parking.
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Photo: Inga Wittneben |
Noticed how many signs brighten up the streets? Even the natives can be confused when it comes to interpreting parking regulations. Some areas have resident parking at certain hours, and some areas turn into taxi ranks in the evening and at night. There is the odd free parking space, timed parking with a disk and metered parking. Mobile or gsm payment facilities are certainly far rarer than, say, Talinn.
If you have lived in France or Italy rethink. Germans treat their cars well, clean them regularly and often detest minor scratches. So beware of denting and departing; even if you leave a business card under the wiper blade, the police might come calling.
As in every modern city, Dusseldorf is similar to swiss cheese when it comes to parking. Under ground or above, modern and light, dark and scruffy; one can find all types and most have the obligatory tight ramps and narrow parking bays.
The city authorities provide a good service in German to help find an empty space. Easy to understand, it divides the town into six areas. Click on Quartiere or in the map colour scheme in the area you wish to park, then all is revealed including total number of spaces, percentage of used space and tendencies.
This may help:
Parkhaus wird leerer - emptying.
Parkhaus wird voller - filling up.
Gleichbleibend - unchanging.
