Some paid zones have a maximum parking duration: you may stay one or two hours at most, however much you pay. Municipalities use it mainly near shops and amenities, so spaces free up for the next visitor. The app shows the maximum before you start and holds you to it.
How to see the maximum
Select the zone in the app. If a maximum duration applies, it is on the Parking zone screen under Rates, as a line "Maximum duration is 2 hours" below that day's rate. The sign on the street also shows it, usually as "max. 2 uur" on the sub-sign.
What the app does
- When setting an end time you cannot go beyond the maximum. If the zone leaves you half an hour or less from that moment, there is nothing left to choose and the app says End time is fixed, with the explanation "The municipality has a strict max parking duration here, so the end time can't be adjusted."
- When your session reaches the maximum, it is stopped automatically. You get a push notification and an email saying that your parking activity was stopped automatically because the maximum parking time was reached.
- You get a warning beforehand that your session ends in a number of minutes. By default that is a push notification a quarter of an hour ahead; in the "Parking ends soon" group under Profile › Notifications you move that lead time between five minutes and an hour, and switch the email on as well.
- Extending beyond the maximum is not possible.
If you stop earlier yourself, the price is recalculated and the difference stays on your credit.
Staying longer
If you want to stay longer than the maximum, move the car to a zone without a maximum or to a car park. Look on the map in the app for nearby zones without a restriction; often there is one a few streets on. Stop the session in the old zone and start a new one in the new zone.
Maximum and paid hours
The app looks at two limits at once and the stricter one wins: the end of that day's paid hours, and your start time plus the maximum duration. If paid hours end at 18:00 and you may stay two hours, a session started at 17:00 therefore runs until 18:00, not until 19:00. Outside paid hours you do not have to pay and you do not start a session. See Paid hours.
Day passes
A maximum duration and a day rate are two separate municipal settings. If your zone works with a day rate, the zone carries the Day pass badge and the zone screen says you pay a fixed day rate; that in itself says nothing about how long you may stay. See Day passes and day rates.
Difference from a blue zone
In a blue zone you park for free with a parking disc, for a maximum time. That is not a paid zone; you do not start a session there and the app shows no zone.