The parking rate you see in the app is not SimplePark's but the municipality's. Every municipality decides for itself whether to introduce paid parking, in which zones and at what rate. We bill that rate in the time unit the municipality sets and pass it on to the municipality in full. Our own fee is the € 0.29 service fee per session, separate from the rate.
Why rates differ so much
There is no national parking rate. When setting rates, municipalities look at:
- Parking pressure. The scarcer the space, the higher the rate. In a city centre you soon pay € 5 to € 8 per hour, in a residential area on the edge often € 1 to € 2.
- Location. Right by the station or in the shopping street is dearer than a few streets on.
- Policy. Many municipalities want a less car-heavy centre and use the rate to steer visitors to car parks or park-and-ride.
That is why the rate can differ per zone within one city, and one street on can be a lot cheaper.
Rate per time of day
A zone can have several rates: one amount in the daytime, another in the evening, or a different amount on Saturday than on weekdays. The app automatically applies the rate in force at that moment. If your session spans a rate change, we bill each part at its own rate.
The unit you are billed in
The hourly rate is the unit municipalities express their rates in, but billing happens per time step that the municipality itself sets: sometimes one minute, often a quarter of an hour, sometimes a whole hour. That step appears as a footnote under the rate table for the zone, for example "*You pay per 15 minutes". A step you start counts in full: if the step is a quarter of an hour and you stay sixteen minutes, you are billed two quarters. If the step is one minute, you pay exactly the minutes you stayed. So check the unit for the zone before you pick an end time.
Where you see the rate
Before you start, the rate is on the Parking zone screen under Rates, per day and with the paid hours alongside. Previous day and Next day page through the days around it. Underneath that table is the footnote with the time unit you are billed in. What you see beforehand is a calculation over the time you enter; the definitive amount follows once your session has stopped. See Viewing zone information in the app.
Rate changes
Municipalities usually adjust rates on 1 January, sometimes in between. The app adopts new rates as soon as the municipality applies them. If a session is running at the time of a change, each part is billed at the rate in force at that moment. See Price changes.
A fixed price for a whole day is sometimes cheaper; see Day passes and day rates.