Parking costs 50 euros, even if you only stand for five minutes: the Scheveningen experiment that made the international news

“What, fifty euros?!” Maaike and her husband have just driven from Brabant to the Scheveningen museum Beelden aan Zee. They’ve been driving around in their dark gray BMW for half an hour looking for a parking space, only to end up back in the street of the museum, right on the beach. Shocked by the price, Maaike – who does not want to share her last name – hurries back behind the wheel. “We’re just going to look for a parking garage.”

And that is exactly how the municipality of The Hague came up with it. To spare the local residents from the parking nuisance of the day trippers, an experiment has been set up since 1 May in five streets in Scheveningen. They are the streets around the museum. And one further on, at the parking lot of the Oranjeflat. The concept: parking costs fifty euros. Whether for five minutes or for a whole day. Incidentally, it is not unique: it is already happening in Veere in Zeeland, but with significantly less negative publicity than in the royal city.

The municipality of The Hague emphasizes that it is still a test, a trial. “As things are often tried,” says the spokesperson for responsible alderman Anne Mulder (VVD). And so the municipality did not publicize it. The spokesman is disappointed “with the knowledge of now”.

Initially, it all went as intended by the municipality: local media reported on five streets where an experiment was to take place. Until the test in the May holiday suddenly national and even international news became. “Parking for ten minutes in Scheveningen? 50 euros”, read everywhere. While, “it’s really only about five streets!”, says the spokesman.

Waterbed effect

The Harteveltstraat is a succession of brick houses from the late 1920s, with white painted woodwork, wide bay windows and front gardens, often with flower boxes, electric bicycles and surfboards. Diana Schaap looks out over the museum and the adjacent beach entrance from her front garden. Her street is one of five streets.

Her car is at the door. But on a sunny Friday afternoon like this, she doesn’t move it. Especially now that it’s also Pentecost weekend. “I take the bike. I really can’t lose the car otherwise.” And that has not changed since the introduction of the intended deterrent amount of fifty euros, the residents see.

Diana Schaap and her neighbor Debby di Meglio know why. Beachgoers simply head to the surrounding streets. The residents of those streets can then no longer park their cars there. They have a parking permit for the entire neighborhood and can therefore also use the five streets of the experiment. “There are really only a few cars from this street here now,” says Di Meglio. “The rest is from the other side.” She points in the direction of the streets behind. Previous parking experiments were more successful, she says. “Last year we had a gentleman here at the beginning of the street who checked whether cars belonged to street residents. That helped a bit.”

Expensive coffee

The consequences of the municipal trial are already noticeable, according to various beach tent owners. They say fewer people come to the boulevard. Youri van Spronsen of Beachfoodclub Bora Bora has “had many calls from people with questions,” he says. “Parties have even been cancelled.” It is also quieter on the beach than usual, he says. The cause: “That parking story.”

His colleague Dennis Ludovici from beach bar Twins shares that analysis. He “has been walking around here all his life” and lives in one of the now infamous five streets. “People think: this is going to be very expensive coffee.”

Almost all beach tents on the boulevard are affiliated with the Association of Beach Tent Operators Scheveningen. According to chairman Martin Wörsdörfer, former councilor for the VVD, parking in the seaside resort is “such a hypersensitive subject”, that the municipality can be blamed for the lack of communication about the test. “If even The Guardian If you write about it, you won’t do anything against it.”

Despite all the negative publicity, many people are still unaware of the parking experiment. Beach tent entrepreneur Ludovici says to always approach people when they park in his street. “Nine times out of ten they get back in quickly. They have no idea.”

The municipality has also “received signals” from local residents who are not really getting along with the parking test, the spokesman said. But there is no question of aborting the trial: after one month no conclusions can be drawn, is the idea. Let’s first see how the summer months are going, after a year there will be an evaluation.

The people of Scheveningen who complain are used to the summer parking challenges, says resident Pascale de Boer. “There is a solution for everything: in the summer you just do things with the scooter.” She won’t be put off by any means. “We are privileged to live here.”