The Sintra City Council approved the expansion of charged parking on beaches, the increase in tariffs in parks, limited-duration areas and the provision of monthly payments to tourist entertainment operators, the municipality announced this Wednesday, March 11th.
The municipal executive approved, at Tuesday’s private meeting, a proposal from the mayor’s president, Marco Almeida (PSD), for the “location of limited-duration parking areas” in the parishes of Agualva and Mira Sintra, Algueirão-Mem Martins, Belas, Cacém and São Marcos, Massamá and Monte Abraão, Rio de Mouro, Sintra and Queluz.
Grande and Maçãs beaches, according to the proposals to which Lusa had access, will also be subject to the delimitation of areas with parking meters, in existing car parks, or on access roads to the sand, from June to September, with a limit of up to four hours (4 euros).
Cabo da Roca is also included, but an official source from the Sintra Municipal Parking Company (EMES) said that the space will be requalified for pedestrian, car and parking use, and that it would be premature to “talk about charged parking” at this time.
In the proposal, approved by a majority (PSD/IL/Chega), with no votes from the PS, regulation is justified with “the structural increase in parking in the urban areas of the municipality and, in particular, in areas of tourist and bathing pressure”.
EMES, according to the document, is responsible for “guiding the selection and activation of subzones/bags” based on technical and administrative criteria, taking into account parking pressure and occupancy levels, the need to ensure rotation and discipline of public space.
The tariff increase proposal states that, since 2014, surface tariffs have only suffered “a small increase” at the beginning of 2025 and that the price charged in some areas, “because it is attractive”, encourages those going to work to park, giving rise to complaints from residents.
The rate, which should be valid from April 1st, provides values between R$ 0.40 (15 minutes) and R$ 4.65 (four hours) or R$ 14 (daily rate) in Vila, and R$ 0.40 (15 minutes) and R$ 3.45 (four hours) or R$ 10.35 (daily) in the red subzone of Portela.
Park and surface prices, in urban parishes, were also updated, according to an EMES source, respecting the inflation value.
In a note, the city hall informed that tour operators with a National Registry of Tourist Entertainment Agents (RNAAT) will have, from April 1st, new rules that “facilitate their work and improve circulation, benefiting residents and visitors”.
EMES, he added, will “make exclusive monthly agreements available”, for 100 euros, allowing vehicles with up to nine spaces to be parked in all limited-duration areas, instead of in specific spaces.
In the proposal, it is determined that EMES and the Municipal Police adapt “inspection activities”, when necessary, in “articulation with the GNR and other competent entities”.
Councilor Bruno Parreira, from the PS, justified the votes against parking zones and the tariff increase due to the absence of “a macro strategy” for EMES and because “entire urban parishes are foreseen as limited-duration parking zones”.
For the mayor, it is not possible to “gauge the goodness of a policy when it is not studied” or “explained” and does not see “the minimum level of coordination”, with parish councils and concessionaires, when “all areas around the beaches in the municipality of Sintra are now taxed”.
“On the beach front, it might even make sense to guarantee some rotation, now, in the peripheral parks, does this make any sense?”he questioned.
At the municipal assembly, on Tuesday night, Rogério Cassona (CDU) considered that “the unbridled expansion of paid parking areas in the municipality”, under the management of EMES, constitutes a “direct attack on the quality of life of residents, the viability of local commerce and the fundamental right of access to public space”.
“The selection of streets to be charged appears to follow criteria of financial profitability for EMES and not serious technical mobility studies that justify the need for rotation”he highlighted, demanding “the immediate suspension of the expansion of parking meters” in the municipality.
The president of the municipality, in response, justified that “EMES is a very important structure in the municipal universe” for the historic center, mobility and parking, and will soon announce “a robust plan for the creation of parking spaces, especially in the urban area”.
Regarding parking meters in urban parishes and the coastal area, Marco Almeida said that the concrete areas have not yet been “defined”, work “to be developed” with the presidents of the parish councils.
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