How much it costs to park in South Africa vs rest of the world

While we have to contend with potholes, load-shed traffic lights and some of the world’s most dangerous drivers, at least South African road users don’t pay a lot for parking.

South Africa has among the world’s cheapest fees and ranks 38th in a list of the most expensive countries to park in, according to the latest Parkopedia Global Parking Index.

Based on Parkopedia’s data covering more than 90-million parking spaces across 20,000 cities in 90 countries, the two-hour cost of off-street parking in South Africa is an average $1.33 (about R23).

That’s far more affordable than Australia, which tops the list at a whopping $19.12.

The second-most expensive country is the US, at $9.38, ahead of Israel and New Zealand, both at $8.79, and Norway at $8.70.

New York is the most expensive city for two-hour off-street parking, with an average of $43.10.

The Netherlands is the most expensive country for monthly off-street parking at an average of $344.29.

Parkopedia is a connected car services provider used by millions of drivers and organisations such as Audi, Apple, BMW, Ford and Garmin.

It says the pandemic had a huge effect on parking prices over the past three years, as the fear of contagion drove many to use private vehicles instead of public transport, combined with municipalities worldwide introducing initiatives to support the hospitality sector, which affected on-street parking supply.

Also affecting supply is the transformation of on-street parking spaces into pedestrian zones or cycling routes to allow for green areas and the encouragement to use multimodal forms of transport in the push towards greener living and cleaner urban areas. High inflation has also affected average prices worldwide, with Parkopedia’s results showing the average per country inflation for two-hour off-street parking was 6.2%, while the average for two-hour on-street parking was 21.8%.