First peripheral car park opens in Chania

The first of the long-awaited peripheral car parks which are planned for Chania to ease congestion in the city will be opening on 25th June. Parking at the site, which is behind the Kladissos junction at the entrance to Chania, will be free and a free shuttle service by electric buses will be provided to the city centre. The number of cars it will hold has not been stated.

Kladissos car park map
The site of the new peripheral car park at the Kladissos junction, Chania. Map: Haniotika Nea.

The service will run every day except Sundays and public holidays, and for a trial period it will run every 20 minutes, the first bus leaving Kladissos at 07:00 and the last one leaving the centre at 22:40.

Buses will stop at the Agiou Nektariou stop on Kissamou street, at the KTEL terminus on Kydonias, the Public stop on Hatzimichaili Giannari, and the Iconostasi stop on Kissamou, before returning to Kladissos. Buses are crewed by the drivers of the KTEL urban network for Chania, and the public can mount or dismount at any of the stops whether or not they are using the car park.

Other potential car parks
At a meeting of the Chania City Council on Monday 17th June, the mayor Panagiotis Simandirakis mentioned several other possibilities for car parking which were being examined by the Municipality. These include:
– The use of the school yards, after the end of the school year, at the 5th Chania Elementary School in Nea Hora and the Daidalos Vocational Lykeio on Mylonogianni street, for supervised parking.
– Seventy parking spaces to be made available at the KTEL bus terminal on Kydonias street,.
– The use of part of the former Markopoulou barracks – sold to the Municipality a year ago by the ministry of Defence – as a temporary car park for 2-4 years, until the completion of negotiations for the other planned peripheral car parks and the finalisation of plans for the use of the site.

Mr Simandirakis also mentioned the often-discussed proposal for an underground car park beneath the National Stadium on Papandreou street, while making it clear that the whole process would take many years. Car parking is the major issue regarding traffic management in Chania, the mayor said, and the above measures are an attempt to alleviate it.
(Haniotika Nea 19/06/24)