Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
MONTHLY parking exemption hours for senior citizens in Bulawayo have been reduced with the City of Bulawayo revealing that last year they incurred a loss of over US$119 000 towards this facility.
The parking hour exemption benefit for senior citizens has therefore been reduced to 10 hours per month.
In June last year, the City of Bulawayo’s partner in parking management, Tendy Three Investments (TTI) introduced that residents who are aged 70 and above will now be exempted from paying parking fees as part of the local authority’s endeavour to honour them for their contribution to the growth and development of the city.
According to the latest report, when the Parking Senior Citizens rebate was introduced, a total of 1 332 senior citizens registered their cars, with the rebate being for a maximum of 25 hours per month.
“Facts indicated that most parking hours (of the allocated 25 hours per month happened in 0-10 (62 percent) category followed 11-15 (17 percent) category compared to the 21-25 category, which stands at 12 percent. This analysis motivated council to consider reducing the parking hour benefit to 10 hours per month.
“This was a cost containment strategy aimed at reducing CSR burden. Pursuant to this, an advert was flighted advising residents of the reduction of the benefit and to renew their application on or before 28 February 2025. A total of US$119 134 was revenue lost by the council due to city’s CSR. Seventy percent of this amount was retained by the counterparty TTI, as costs due to councils’ CSR,” reads the report.
The local authority revealed that following the 2025 advert, 1 351 cars had been registered and the parking trend in January 2025 after the implementation of a 10-hour exemption, showed that most of the elderly utilised only up to 50 percent of the new allocation.
In debating the motion, councillors supported the proposal to reduce parking hours for senior citizens, raising concern that council would lose significant revenue through parking exemptions.
Meanwhile, the local authority is considering reducing the cost of parking in the periphery of the city after motorists reportedly complained that council had not been fair in its parking charges and had requested that parking bays be charged differently.
This comes as the council has acknowledged that improvements were required in managing the parking system since there was no mechanism to inspect revenue collection.
“The Town Clerk (Mr Christopher Dube) further informed the Finance and Development Committee that there had been complaints regarding the administration of the parking system, particularly the fact that all parking bays were charged the same amount.
“He explained that motorists felt that council had not been fair in its parking charges and had requested that parking bays be charged differently. He stated that there was a risk that motorists would avoid parking in town and would occupy areas designated for businesses. He emphasised the need to ensure that parking bays at the periphery were charged less,” reads the report.
According to the report, for January 2025, when all currencies were converted to USD, parking management collected US$101 526.
