Discussion on Parking Fees with HGS in Bolu

Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan expressed his surprise at the payment being collected via HGS in the open parking lots in the city center, stating, “I will look into this issue on Monday. I will see how this permission was obtained.” Özcan also reacted to the General Directorate of Highways, which authorized the collection of payments via HGS.

In a statement made during the Bolu Municipal Council’s first meeting in November, after CHP council member Okay Özcan brought the issue to the agenda, Mayor Tanju Özcan noted that the open parking lots were leased to Boluspor for 10 years by Bolu Municipality in 2007, and then again for another 10 years during Alaaddin Yılmaz’s term. Özcan stated that Boluspor sometimes transferred the operation of these parking lots to subcontractors and sometimes operated them with its own staff, saying, “It has been rented to a subcontractor again.”

Emphasizing that there are precedent decisions from the court regarding the annulment of fines related to open parking fees, Özcan stated that despite this, the HGS system collects fees without the consent of the citizens. Özcan said, “I was surprised when I first heard that payments were being collected via HGS and said, ‘This cannot be.’ What does HGS have to do with it?”

Providing details about the HGS application initiated by Boluspor’s subcontractor, Özcan stated, “We have leased these parking lots to Boluspor, for example, for 50 TL. Boluspor has transferred this to the subcontractor for 80 TL. The subcontractor company has obtained authority from HGS by agreeing with the General Directorate of Highways and is collecting fees through commission by sending the license plates of the parked vehicles to the HGS system. I learned that there are examples of this application in other cities. However, there is an unfair situation here. The company previously earned 100 TL and gave 80 TL to Boluspor, but now with the new application, it will earn 1000 TL while Boluspor will continue to receive only 80 TL. This does not sit right with me.”

Recalling that there is a court ruling stating that fees cannot be collected without the consent of citizens, Özcan said, “Now, whether there is consent or not, money is being withdrawn directly. I will address this issue on Monday.”

Özcan also reacted to the General Directorate of Highways to which HGS is affiliated, stating, “The one granting the permission is the General Directorate of Highways, and HGS is also affiliated with Highways. From the perspective of Highways, this is an income because they take a commission from every parking transaction. However, as Highways, they should not interfere with the fee collection process in parking lots that are under the municipality’s jurisdiction. Otherwise, we could also demand money from every vehicle passing through the D-100 highway and collect city crossing fees via HGS. We need to find a solution to this issue.”