Europark Estonia took over the paid parking in the capital at the start of September. The company won a tender, beating AS Ühisteenused which managed Tallinn's paid parking for 25 years.

For the first few weeks, residents who forgot to pay for parking were surprised that they were not issued penalties.

Europark CEO Karol Kovanen said that obtaining old data and transferring it to the new system took time.

"The reason was not our ability to issue fines, but the fact that we only received the entire database, including all residents' various parking permits, on the day the contract began. The data volume was simply so large that a week was planned for setting it up, but it ended up taking two," he explained.

"We were able to check parking, but if the control application showed that a vehicle had no parking permit, we could not actually know whether the person had failed to pay for short-term parking or whether they were a local resident with a permit that our system wasn't yet showing," the Europark director added.

Martin Nelis, head of parking and traffic development in the mobility strategic planning department of the Tallinn Transport Authority, said the city had already accounted for the transition period.

"The transition has been stressful, but by now the system's core functions are working," Nelis said.

Inspectors are now back on the streets checking parking payments. However, the city missed out on two weeks' worth of fine revenue, he admitted.

"The exact amounts can be determined in October, but an estimate can be made based on last year: then, almost €42,000 was collected for the city in the first two weeks of September, or half a month. This can be considered the price of the transition, but with the new tender and contract, the service fee is so much lower that it saves the city at least €50,000 every month," the official said.

While the previous operator, Ühisteenused, received 16 percent of parking revenue as a service fee, Europark provides the service for slightly less than 6 percent. The cheaper operator's fee is expected to save the city about €500,000 a year. According to the contract, Europark must still ensure service functionality, and in the event of disruptions, penalties must be paid, the city's representative noted.

"Some services are more critical, some less. Accordingly, contractual penalties are provided. For the first two weeks, the city demanded a €5,000 penalty. We agreed on new deadlines. Work is currently intense, and most likely all functions will indeed be fully operational," said Nelis.

Under the contract, Europark must ensure at least €400,000 in monthly parking fees for the city of Tallinn. Kovanen confirmed that most people continued to pay properly for parking even without the threat of fines, and the city's expected revenue will be met.

"There was certainly no free parking — all parking conditions remained in effect, payment systems worked, and people paid, so in that sense there was no setback. As of now, it seems that the minimum threshold of €400,000 set by the city will indeed be met in September," he said.

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