Yekaterinburg Woman Billed for Exiting Her Own Yard
A resident of the Yugo-Zapad district in Yekaterinburg faced a demand to pay for exiting her own yard. Her house is located next to the «Kit» Shopping Center, where a paid parking lot was recently organized.
According to established rules, residents who leave their cars in home parking lots, not on the shopping center«s territory, should pass through the barriers for free. However, on the morning of January 28, the system allegedly malfunctioned, and no automatic opening occurred.
«Today in the morning, they didn»t let us out of the house again. 15 minutes of arguing: wasted nerves, being late for work, and a traffic jam of several cars. And so it is every day,« the woman said.
After contacting the operator, the car owner heard a demand to pay almost 2,000 rubles (about $22 at current rates) for 12 hours of parking.
«Contact the administration of the »Kit« Shopping Center to have them add you to the parking lists, if possible. Otherwise, the barrier will never open automatically, and you will constantly need to address this issue,» a parking service representative explained.
For unimpeded passage, residents of the nearby house need to install a special mobile application, with which they can open two barriers at the entrance and two at the exit. Despite this, malfunctions occur regularly.
«The administration brought not order but chaos. Let them put the barriers on the front side, not behind the »Kit«. We should be able to drive home unimpeded. And in the evening, we can»t drive in. Cars are parked on both sides,« the resident added.
The organization of paid parking lots near shopping centers is becoming a common practice in the city. A similar system was previously introduced at the large Veer Mall, where barriers began to be installed in the fall of 2024. The reason was that many parking spaces were occupied by cars of residents from neighboring residential complexes, not by shopping center visitors.
