Parking Fees in Israel Surge by 30% Following Per-Minute Reform
A year after Israel introduced per-minute parking billing to ease costs, parking fees have surged by up to 30%. While short stays save money, hourly and daily rates at major lots have spiked, and legislative efforts to repeal the law have stalled.
A year after the implementation of the parking lot reform, parking fees in Israel have surged significantly. The legislation, intended to mandate billing by exact parking minutes, was exploited by lot operators to raise rates by dozens of percent. Meanwhile, a legislative amendment aimed at halting the trend and repealing the law has stalled in the Knesset.
The parking law entered into force on December 2, 2025, altering the collection method so that drivers were billed only for precise parking minutes rather than rounded hours. Despite the original intention to ease the burden on the public, particularly for short errands, the law did not cap the per-minute rate. Consequently, many operators sharply increased their prices.
A report by the Knesset Research and Information Center, commissioned by Economic Affairs Committee Chairman MK David Bitan and published in early 2026, examined 90 parking lots and found that 70% of them recorded hikes in the first-hour rate. The average price for the first and second hours jumped by about 30%, currently standing at roughly 19 shekels. The report indicated that drivers parking for less than 46 minutes do pay less, but longer durations face increased costs. Furthermore, 40% of lots also raised daily rates despite the law not mandating changes to daily fees.
The price hikes are felt nationwide. At the TLV Mall in Tel Aviv, the hourly rate jumped from 20 to 30 shekels. At the Azrieli parking lot, the price rose from 17 to 24 shekels, and at Ben Gurion Airport, the rate climbed to 30 shekels. Avital, a Tel Aviv resident, described the new situation: "Entering a parking lot without a resident discount costs me as much as a concert ticket today. I saw a lot charging 50 shekels an hour, which has simply become outrageous."
Parking lot owners argue that the price hikes are necessary to compensate for lost revenue. An operator in central Tel Aviv explained that short stays reduce profits, stating, "Someone has to absorb this, and it certainly won't be me." Meanwhile, municipal parking lots have also joined the trend, with the Tel Aviv municipality raising parking rates by about 20% in August 2026.
Efforts to advance an amendment repealing the per-minute billing mandate have stalled. The legislation passed preparation stages in the Economic Affairs Committee, but the government refrained from bringing it to a final vote in the Knesset plenum due to opposition from Haredi parties. MK Naama Lazimi blamed the government, noting that ministries failed to address market failures, and vowed to pursue legislative fixes in the upcoming Knesset.
