TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Marigot Blue Zone Parking

So, I am walking the streets of Marigot right now and I have walked past hundreds of cars parked in the blue zone and have yet to see one parking disc in use. Makes you wonder why they even have this rule.

I saw one "blue click" out of 76 cars in the blue zone on Wednesday. I have been to each of the numorous places where they were supposed to be distributed at least 4 times in the last 2 months. Each of the places said they had a few when the Blue Zone was first established, but ran out in one day and never got anymore. No one seems to know anything about it and they said they have no idea if or when they will be getting more.

Have you tried the Police station in Marigot? That is where I got mine about a month ago. I also haven't seen anyone using them yet while parked in a blue zone space.

Reminds me of the breathalyzer hype.

Yes, tried there several times, no luck yet.

Well, that is just stupid. Why make a law if there is no ability to comply with it?

If I'm not mistaken, the requirement that they be used does not go into effect until May 1.

That is correct, but they still have no blue tags to distribute. I stopped at 3 places today. I think I'll just get a toy clock and paint it blue and put it in the windshield. LOL

It went into effect starting March 1st, from the Daily Herald

Thanks for looking that up. I thought it was already in effect and according to that story, the grace period has expired also. (..unless there was some extension of the time period, which I certainly haven't heard about..) How many cars are there on the island? They claim they made 20,000 of these things..

Supposedly, as of June 1st, Blue Zone Parking is now really in effect in Marigot, as opposed to the previous announced date of March 1st. It is a €135 fine to park in the Blue Zone without a disk or be parked longer than 1hr 30min. Story here.

It is just indifference on the part of the locals. I must have walked by the Galis Bay parking lot 5 mornings last month and the only vehicle I saw was the free shuttle. Marigot looks worse every time I go to St Martin. Maybe if they enforce the parking restrictions it will help. My car rental company never mentioned the blue disks to me.

Now all the Collectivitie has to do is distribute the blue tags to the places they advertised would have them.I continue to stop at every place several times a week, including the Marigot & Grand Case Police Stations and there are no blue tags available. Rumor has it that they had not received another delivery when they ran out the first time. In the meantime, there are lots & lots of empty spaces at the Galisbay parking lot.

some informations about the blue zone...http://www.soualigapost.com/en/news/1465/soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9/zone-bleue-real-launch-wednesday

Where is the Galis Bay parking lot?

Coming from Grand Case, turn right at the roundabout. The parking lot is along the lagoon on your right.

If you have gone by the waterfront in Marigot to avoid the traffic, it's on the water side, a fair amount away from the downtown. I am terrible with distances, but I would say maybe a quarter mile before the Yacht Club there, if you're coming from the Grand Case side. When we went by the other day, there was a bus sitting there in the parking lot. There is some parking that is not blue zone that is closer than that.

The blue zone parking rules are certainly in effect. We just returned from 10 days in St. Martin. On our first visit to Marigot noticed lots of parking spaces around the market marked with blue lines. Thanks to this board we elected not to park there. Found the gravel lot further down the road packed. Finally found a space near the cemetery.

Then we came upon a local police officer busy issuing lots of tickets to cars parked in blue spaced with no blue tags. He told us the fine is 17 Euro. Marigot was making lots of money that day.

There is no signage to indicate what the blue markings mean. So unless a tourist has followed this development on this site (or maybe elsewhere) they are a prime target for the parking enforcement officer.

There are a few signs posted in french that explain blue zone parking. They are just posted few and far between each other.

We tried to find the discs at about five different french side gas stations last week with no luck. We then went to the Hotel de la Collectieve and got one (in the front door and to the right). We use it on the French side so we do not have to worry about whether they are enforcing it or not.

Just curious if there was a charge for the disc?

Blue Zone Parking discs are free of charge.

It was free - just have to write down your name and license number.

Naked--did you ever get one?? I know that you had tried numerous times.

No, but we will check the Collectivitie tomorrow. Thanks for asking.