Blue Zones in the Cities

Minus 2,300 parking spaces – in just the last two years

Every year, Swiss cities remove thousands of parking spaces. Blue zones are particularly affected. And there's no end in sight – on the contrary: STREETLIFE reveals which city is taking the most radical approach against these popular neighborhood parking spots.

They're making way for bike lanes, flowerpots, or car-free shared spaces: street parking is becoming increasingly rare in Swiss cities. A survey by STREETLIFE shows that in Zurich, Basel, St. Gallen, and Bern, a total of 2,322 blue zone parking spaces have been eliminated over the past two years. These are relatively affordable spots, especially popular in residential areas without underground garages.

City of Zurich: “Another 300–500 spaces to be removed in 2025”
To the cities, these spaces are a thorn in the side-or rather, in their mobility strategies. Zurich is taking a particularly radical stance: within a short time, the city removed 721 parking spaces. While there were still 31,173 at the end of 2022, that number will shrink to 30,452 by April 2025. District 3 in Wiedikon was the most affected, with 193 parking spaces removed. And the city isn’t stopping there: “As part of 2025 construction projects, 300 to 500 blue parking spaces will be removed to improve cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and create more green space,” says Chantal Stocker from the Traffic Department, in response to STREETLIFE.

Bern and Basel are removing a similar number of spaces
In Basel, the number of parking spaces is only surveyed every two years. But a comparison between November 2021 and November 2023 shows: 550 spaces were removed without replacement. The numbers are similar in Bern. From 2022 to 2024, the number of blue zone spaces dropped from 11,958 to 11,426 – a total reduction of 532 spaces.

Eastern Switzerland relatively stable – but downward trend continues
In Eastern Switzerland, the numbers are somewhat less dramatic by comparison. But the trend is still declining. Between 2022 and 2024, the city of St. Gallen lost 64 parking spaces in the extended blue zone. In Winterthur, the number of public parking spaces was not systematically recorded until recently. After the city reassigned all parking spaces from white to blue zones in the fall of last year, the total stood at around 5,500. “Fourteen spaces were removed, mainly for safety reasons,” says Michael Graf from the Department of Construction and Mobility.

It seems that residents of Winterthur who park on the street can still breathe a little easier for now. “There is no systematic effort or target to reduce parking spaces in Winterthur,” says Michael Graf. Still, even here, blue zone parking spaces are being removed without replacement in favor of high-speed bike lanes. In Töss, 17 spaces were eliminated, 6 in Wülflingen, and another 41 are planned in Oberwinterthur, “although these numbers may change in favor of more remaining spaces, as discussions with objecting residents are still ongoing,” adds Michael Graf.

Cities taking radical action against cars
The ones paying the price for lost parking spaces are residents of developments without underground garages: they are forced to give up their cars unless they are willing to pay high parking fees or spend significant time each day searching for a spot.

But cities are pushing ahead with their mobility strategies, regardless of the consequences. Their message is clear: cars should disappear from the roadside – and ideally from the entire city. Zurich, for instance, aims to reduce motorized private traffic by 30 percent by 2024 – just like Basel, which has set the same goal, though for 2037.

Opposition from affected residents
In some cities, resistance is forming. In Zurich, the initiative “Yes to a fair parking compromise” has just been launched. The TCS section of Basel City and Basel-Land also made a statement by submitting the petition “No to arbitrary fees in BS! No to excessive parking permit prices” to the Grand Council in November of last year. In St. Gallen, affected residents have filed a public initiative against the increased fees. Whether these mostly left-green governed cities will consider the demands of car users remains to be seen.

Claudia Brüngger
www.streetlife.ch