Using Prague park and ride
There are several "Park and Ride" car parks around the outskirts of Prague (as shown on the DPP website). They open Sunday to Thursday 0400-0100 and Fri-Sat 0400-0200. This is how they work.
On entry you press the button to get your ticket. You park your car and on your way out of the car park there will be a payment machine. Here you have an option. If you are travelling outside of the "P", "0" or "1" areas i.e. central Prague area you need not pay anything at this point. If you are travelling within these areas (the whole metro/tram system and bus routes extending out 20km are covered by these areas) then you will be buying tickets at this point.
Prague Park and Ride Ticket Options
Since July 1st 2011 the system has been simplified. Parking now costs 20Kc per day. Normal travel tickets can be bought from the same machine so for this part check how a regular ticket machine works at the DPP Ticket Machine Guide. The tariffs are also explained on that page.
Get your car out of the car park 30 minutes before the official closing time. The dispecnik should be there but people have been known to leave early. If you don't get your car out before it closes then 1) you are in a mess and 2) the next morning you'll have to pay another 120kc to the man who left early and caused all the problems.
Entering the car park
There are motorway signs on D1 and D5 which show how many spaces are on the closest two P&R sites. In my experience if the number is in single figures then you will find that the entry is "coned" i.e. blocked and you have to wait at the barrier until the Park and Ride "ticket man" gets off his arse to let you in. Bear in mind that the ticket dispenser will be on the left side of the car. Make sure you do not park in any reserved spaces for disabled or, in some cases, resident parking. These will be clearly marked.
Older car park option 1 - at the entry barrier you press the button and get a fairly square piece of paper with a barcode on it.
Newer car park option 2 - at the entry barrier you press the button and get a small "credit card" sized ticket with a magnetic strip on one side and date/time info on the other.
The Park and Ride Ticket Machine when you are ready to leave
Option 1 (older): Press the button on the machine that says "20Kc". Now press the button marked "Vydej" (which means enter). Present your barcoded ticket to the scanner at the base of the machine. If the ticket is scanned OK then you will now be asked to deposit the requested money into the machine. After the money is inserted you will get two paper tickets from the machine which you should keep as a receipt. You must keep the original barcoded paper ticket for your exit from the car park.
Option 2 (newer): Press the button on the machine that says "20Kc". Press the button marked "Vydej" (which means enter). Insert the ticket with the magnetic stripe (magnetic strip down) into the small machine that will have "Vlozte listek" or something similar on it's display i.e. insert ticket. This smaller machine will be separate to the larger ticket machine. If the ticket is accepted OK then you will now be asked to deposit the requested money into the ticket machine. After the money is inserted you will get two paper tickets from the machine which you'll see most people will leave behind. You should keep them as a receipt. You must keep the original magnetic stripe ticket for your exit from the car park.
Exiting the car park
You generally have 30 minutes from the time of payment to when you must have exited the car park. This is normally written on the paper or car park ticket. When you get back to the car park go to the machine and scan the ticket. You
Option 1: Drive up to the exit barrier, scan the barcoded ticket and the barrier should open.
Option 2: Drive up to the exit barrier, insert the ticket with the magnetic strip (magnetic strip down) into the small machine. If all is OK, the machine keeps the ticket and the barrier opens.
What if the barrier doesn't open?
You speak Czech? Normally this is caused when you don't pay for the parking. There used to be a fault whereby it was possible to get travel tickets without presenting the parking ticket but, this was fixed. The common faults are that you have inserted the ticket the wrong way round (magnetic strip) or you are presenting the barcode on the wrong side. Don't worry, there will either be a booth with a man sitting in it who should spend some of his precious time to help you out or else, as is becoming more popular, you will find an intercom button on the exit machine. Just speak English to the machine for 30 seconds and hey presto the barrier magically opens.
Night Parking
There is a 100kc charge per night on top of the normal 20kc day charge so if you leave a car overnight you pay 100Kc plus 2x 20Kc i.e. 140Kc. This extra charge must be paid at the manned office (Dispecnik). The guy makes a note of the registration so just point to it on his list. You can leave your car up to 14 days without issues.
Official documentation regarding the Prague Park and Ride system can be found on the www.dpp.cz page.
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