Need to tighten the ambiguous situation of parking ticket prices at the beginning of the year

Co Am Pagoda is the most beautiful pagoda in the area.Dien Chau district, in the first days of the new year, every day this pagoda attracts thousands of people from all over the country to come back to offer incense and enjoy the view, traffic jams often occur.

Faced with the large influx of visitors, the parking service around this temple has flourished, with dozens of households turning village roads, alleys, and yards into spontaneous parking lots. Whenever visitors arrive, the locals stand out on the street to invite them to park their vehicles.

However, it is worth mentioning that at these parking lots, each place collects tickets in a different way. Some households print tickets, some do not. The ticket price also depends on the parking location. At households in remote areas, the ticket price for motorbikes is 5,000 VND/ticket, for cars is 20,000 VND/ticket, for households near the pagoda, the price is more expensive, some places collect tickets for motorbikes up to 10,000 VND/ticket, for cars from 30,000 - 40,000 VND/ticket, higher than the general regulation.

For example, the parking lot at the cultural house of hamlet 4, the old Dien Minh commune (now Minh Chau commune) is a large parking lot, located next to the pagoda, so there are many vehicles, mainly motorbikes. Here, after Tet, there are about 4-5 people on duty, including 3 people arranging vehicles, 2 people touting and writing tickets. The motorbike ticket price, according to the reporter's records as well as people's reflections, is 10,000 VND/ticket, 3 times higher than the regulation. Many people were surprised by this ticket price, however, due to the joyful mentality when coming to the pagoda, many people did not reflect it but agreed to pay.

It is worth mentioning that the problem of overcharging for parking tickets around Co Am Pagoda has been around for many years, causing frustration among locals and tourists, but the local authorities have yet to thoroughly handle it. Not to mention the fact that people rush out onto the streets to compete with each other to solicit customers, which also poses a potential risk of traffic accidents.

At Ong Hoang Muoi Temple in Hung Nguyen District, the number of visitors in the first days of the year was also equally large. This used to be a hot spot for overcharging for parking tickets, which made people angry in previous years. This year, despite the public posting of prices according to regulations, the quality of parking lots still has some shortcomings.

According to the reporter's records on January 10, at both entrances to the temple on Vinh bypass and Lam river dike, there were dozens of people spilling out onto the street to solicit visitors to park their vehicles, creating a chaotic and unsafe scene.

When the reporter went to park his car with less than 7 seats, the parking attendant in front of the temple gave him a ticket, the ticket price was 18,000 VND/trip. Although the ticket had the stamp of the Ong Hoang Muoi Temple Relic Management Board, it did not specify the date. What was more surprising was that the attendant did not guide the guests to park their cars but instead left them in a long line on the side of the road, which was both unsafe and caused traffic jams. Meanwhile, there were still empty spaces in the parking lot.

According to Decision 80/2016/QD-UBND, dated December 20, 2016 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, the fee for 7-seat cars or less in Vinh city or town is 10,000 VND/trip; in plain and lowland districts it is 9,000 VND/trip. For cars with more than 7 seats, trucks, and passenger cars, the fee in Vinh city or town is from 12,000 VND to 15,000 VND/trip; in plain and lowland districts it is from 10,000 VND to 14,000 VND/trip.

For high-quality parking lots and points, the service conditions are required to be higher than normal parking conditions (with solid houses, surveillance cameras, fire and explosion protection) and parking lots and points at scenic spots, historical sites, cultural works where visitors often need to park their vehicles for many hours, the maximum parking price is not more than 2 times the parking price specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of Decision 80/2016.

Thus, the parking fee for cars under 7 seats is 18,000 VND/time at Ong Hoang Muoi Temple, although not contrary to regulations, this price must go hand in hand with service quality to satisfy residents and tourists.

At Con Temple, Hoang Mai Town in the first days of the year, according to people's reflection, due to the overload of vehicles, cars had to park along the street, not in the parking lot, but there were still employees who collected 20,000 VND/time. This is a higher price than the regulation, and at the same time, the employees did not give parking tickets to customers.

According to many people's opinion, "January is the month of entertainment", therefore, in the coming time, at tourist attractions, scenic spots, historical sites in the province will continue to have many groups of visitors to visit and worship. Local authorities and functional agencies need to have solutions to tighten the situation of overcharging for parking tickets to ensure the rights of people and tourists, leaving an impression with a healthy tourism environment.

PV