Finding a parking space in a major German city often costs time, money and nerves - and it pollutes the environment.

According to the mobility data service provider Inrix, an average car driver searches for a parking space for ten minutes per trip in Frankfurt am Main, for example.

That doesn't sound like much at first, but according to Inrix it adds up to 65 hours a year. If someone looking for a parking space were to work during this time, the lost wages can quickly run into three to four-digit amounts. Any measure that makes the search for a parking space easier and more efficient is therefore very welcome. The proposals now presented by the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) therefore point in the right direction, but also have potential for improvement.

In fact, it should be possible, for example, to use digital solutions to a greater extent than before, while safeguarding data protection, in order to reconcile the supply of parking spaces with the demand for them.

However, this requires the integration of various data sources.

If urban and private parking garages do not send their free parking spaces in real time to navigation apps on smartphones or infotainment systems in cars, nothing has been gained.

Don't forget the parking spaces

What could be relatively simple in the case of an underground car park or a parking lot limited by barriers, however, becomes much more complicated with parking spaces on the roadside.

In principle, every parking space in a city would have to be equipped with sensors that register whether the parking space is currently free or not.

This data would have to come together via the Internet in order to then pass it on to motorists coming into the city.

There are already first attempts at this.

But it will still cost time and, above all, a lot of money to use parking options in public spaces more efficiently with digital solutions.

These costs come to the general public, and it should not be overlooked.

One price for the parking space

Another suggestion by the VDA is to price the parking space and also to enable price differentiation there.

That too is to be approved, after all, parking spaces in city centers are often scarce, in other words a good that is best awarded via a pricing mechanism.

This could have a steering effect: The parking garage at the Frankfurt Römer or the Rotes Rathaus in Berlin may then, depending on supply and demand, be significantly more expensive than a parking space in Frankfurt-Rödelheim or Berlin-Pankow near the S-Bahn or U-Bahn.

Each driver could then decide for himself and herself whether he would accept the more expensive parking price in the center or the cheaper one in the suburbs.

And whether it is still worthwhile for him to take public transport to the city center from there.

Here, however, the municipalities would have to exercise the caution that the VDA demands.

If only the demand is big enough, the price could theoretically rise to heights that only certain social groups can afford.

A price cap could prevent this without completely stifling the desired steering effect.

After all, the VDA wants to re-regulate residential parking, and here, too, it has a price differentiation in mind.

"In order to prevent undesirable social effects, for example, the prices for residents' parking permits could be staggered depending on their income," says the association's position paper.

This differentiating feature does not reveal itself.

Because the rule does not always apply: if you earn more, you also drive a bigger car.

Precisely because resident parking permits are issued for a specific vehicle, objective criteria such as vehicle length or vehicle width should be included in the calculation.

That would be transparent and fairer - and there would be no need for an additional income check by the public order office, which issues the residents' parking permit.

In this respect, the VDA's proposals are a starting point for further discussion about parking and land use in the city and balancing the interests of all road users.

This debate should be carried on and it will lead to different solutions depending on the city.

But it is obvious that there is a need to talk about the parking situation in large cities.

Because every superfluous minute of traffic looking for a parking space costs time, money and nerves - and it pollutes the environment.