Parking is one of the biggest infrastructure issues in the city. Because there are insufficient parking meters, cars are parked everywhere including on sidewalks, in cross walks, at bus stops and where ‘No Parking’ signs are clearly posted! To make things worse, there is a lot of confusion about towing.  Since new regulations were recently announced, a lot more cars are being towed. To help you (and us) make some sense of the whole issue, we called the police directly; below you will find what we learned.

There are several fees you will have to pay for a violation: the lifting, towing and storage fees (listed below by sector) are different in each sector! But in addition to these fees, the police will fine you personally for the violation and will give you penalty points on your licence: Personal violation fee: RON 216 (or RON 108 if paid within 24 hours) + 3 Penalty Points.

You will need several documents to retrieve your vehicle: the vehicle registration, personal identification (passport, visa card, or national ID), and the driver’s license of the person responsible for the violation.

Sector 1
Storage Facility
Address: Aleea Matelotilor Nr. 31-43
Phone: +40 021 95 40 or +40 021 66 76 772; +40 021 66 76 772
Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00-22:00; Sunday 8:00-1400
For violations in Sector 1, here are the fines:
Lifting fee: RON 200 + VAT;
Transport fee: RON 200 + VAT;
Storage fee for vehicles less than 3.5 metric tons: RON 300 + VAT;
Storage fee for vehicles more than 3.5 metric tons: RON 400 + VAT.
The lifting, transport and storage of vehicles happens 24/7. After a period of 30 days, unclaimed vehicles will be declared abandoned and therefore property of the sector, and are likely to be sold for revenue.

Sector 2
Storage Facility
Address: Fabricii St. Nr. 2
Phone: +40 021 310 45 90; +40 021 310 45 90
Schedule: None Given
At the gate you will have to present your identification (residency permit, passport, national ID) and they will take down your data. Then you can enter the storage house, and retrieve your vehicle. The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 130 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 130 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 180 + VAT

Sector 3
Storage Facility
Address: Sos. Dudesti, Pantelimon Nr. 2– 6
Phone: +40 021 95 43; +40 021 96 40; or +40 0761 118 976; +40 0761 118 976
Schedule: None Given
The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 200 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 150 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 150 + VAT

Sectors 4 and 5
At the time of publication, these sectors did not have a parking violation system implemented, but you can check the Online Survival Guide for updates! Just search for ‘Towing’.

Sector 6
Storage Facility
Address: Drumul Mânăstirea Văratec, Nr. 14-16
Phone: +40 021 95 46
Schedule: None Given
The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 150 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 150 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 200 + VAT per day

If you’ve paid for a parking space and someone parked there, call the institution, company, or person that gave you the parking space first. There is a parking office in the jurisdiction of every sector. Or, you can use the Romanian method: stop your car next to the vehicle in your spot and simply honk your horn until they come and move their car. It is surprisingly effective. If they don’t come, or it happens more than once, lift up their windshield wipers: this will let them know they are in the wrong spot!
You can also call the police in your sector to report the violation: they probably won’t tow the car (because they tow cars based on a pre-determined plan), but they may fine them.

And remember, always call the police in your sector if your car is missing; if it wasn’t towed, it is probably stolen!

HINT: You can find the numbers for Police Stations in each sector in the Emergency Telephone Numbers Section!

Bus sign

If you are taking a bus on Piaţa Dorobanţilor going to the city center, make sure you are waiting at an actual bus stop! The other day I walked by a lady waiting on the sidewalk near the sign “BUS” painted on the street… unfortunately it’s not a bus stop any more.

Abandoned bus stop

After a few seconds of consideration I decided to walk back and inform her about the changed circuit of the public transportation in this area. She was quite grateful for the information I gave her. After giving her directions where the bus is halting now, I decided to take pictures of the scenery. Just a few minutes later others were waiting at the same place in hope for a bus to arrive. I have to admit that I decided not to continue my volunteer job and rather put some info on this site.
Before, the buses made a half circle to the right at Piaţa Dorobanţilor and stopped at the rightmost point of this circuit. Now they just keep going straight on Calea Dorobanţilor and stop right in the middle of the piaţa, in front of the mini-park.

But the ride back was distinctly different.  To our mutual surprise, the same lady and I would be sharing a cabin again, alone, until the door slammed open and a very drunk, very disgruntled man in his fifties burst in a sidled up next to me, ignoring the three other open seats at the other end of the cabin. For the next three hours (until Brasov) we got to hear the mad yelling drunken man tell us we were communists, and that he was not a communist, and, “LOOK! Out the window! There! Do you know what that is? ROMANIA!” He then produced a small electronic stuffed dog with flashing green eyes that barked and jumped around on the floor hysterically while he gave it various commands, which the dog of course ignored and was punished for.

At some point he left with his two liter bottle of Ciuc to talk to people in the aisle outside the cabin, and the woman asked me in English where I was from. Thus began a very interesting discussion. I asked what the man was on about and she said, “He is furious…about everything. Yes, of course he is crazy, but we have to appreciate his right to say what he wants.”

While I agreed in principle, I had had enough of the shouting in my ear and stale beer belching, and was happy when he fell asleep just outside of Brasov but was wary of the next three hours to Sibiu, should he reawaken.

Luckily, our cabin caught fire as we approached Brasov. Apparently, something under the train was burning and we were advised to move to another cabin. We gathered our things and left the now passed-out social objector in the cabin alone. I felt bad about not waking him up, but to my simultaneous relief and irritation, he started shouting through the window something about how the burning train was a communist and how no one was going to make HIM move.

Fortunately, he did not join us in our new cabin. We continued our conversation. At some point a Romanian about my age interrupted asking a political question. He spoke perfect British English and took over the entire conversation from there. We all spoke about religion and politics and philosophy for the remainder of the trip. We exchanged information said goodbye, and parted company.

On the way home from the train station as I sat in the back of the cigarette-smoke-filled taxi whose driver had removed the window cranks, and was blaring Manele, I realized that this was the most normal part of my trip and started laughing. The driver looked at me over his shoulder and also started laughing saying something I didn’t catch, turned up the volume on the radio and began to sing.

Mateo Urquijo

Communications Angel