880-space park & ride lot opens near Romania’s Cluj Airport

A park & ride parking lot with over 880 spaces opened near Cluj International Airport, in central Romania. Travelers can use the parking ticket to ride on the public transportation services serving the area for free.

To mark the opening, Cluj-Napoca mayor Emil Boc parked the car he arrived in and took out a parking ticket. At the end of the visit, he paid the parking fee: RON 2 (EUR 0.4) for one hour.

The first 10 minutes of parking are free, while the free for the next 6 hours is only RON 2. The fee is increased to RON 5 (EUR 1) per hour for stays up to 12 hours, then hiked again to RON 10 (EUR 2) per hour for stays between 12 and 72 hours. Beyond that, the price jumps to RON 15 (EUR 3) per hour.

The fees have been set in such a way as to encourage those coming especially from the areas of Dej, Gherla, and Apahida to leave their cars here and use public transportation.

Once obtained, the parking ticket can be used by those who park to travel for free on public transportation. The free service will apply to lines 5 and 8, which run within the city of Cluj-Napoca, as well as the metropolitan lines M41, M41L, M42, M42L, M43, and M44.

Starting February 10, special taxi spaces will also be available in the parking lot, and vending machines will be installed for ordering taxis inside the airport.

"You order a car from here, which arrives at the airport in 3-5 minutes at most, you get in according to the queue number on the ticket, and you go, paying the amount written on the ticket," explained the mayor in a post on Facebook.

The parking facility was built on a plot of over 4.8 hectares, a project started by the Cluj County Council. It has a capacity of 889 spaces, including 39 spaces for people with disabilities, 30 spaces for electric and hybrid vehicles, 32 spaces for "Mother and Child," and 756 spaces for vehicles.

Additionally, the facility includes 8 bus platforms, 24 taxi spaces, 5 fast-charging stations for electric cars, 8 double slow-charging stations, and 4 single slow-charging stations.

(Photo source: Consiliul Judetean Cluj on Facebook)