The Rome city council has approved new measures to raise money to help to pay for a 60 million shortfall for public transport in the city.

The new rules include an annual payment of 36 to be made by all residents in the central areas of the city who require a permit to park near to their homes. In addition to this, the price of meter parking for non-residents will rise from 1 to 1.50 an hour.

These two measures are expected to bring in 12 million and the remaining 48 million will come from fines for traffic violations and taxes, which are added to these fines.

The city council says that the new charges are necessary because the regional Lazio government is not handing over sufficient funding. Rome receives 240 million annually from the regiont as a subsidy for public transport, 32 per cent of the annual cost of the service in the city. In Lombardia the regional government pays 296 million a year towards transport in Milan, 46 per cent of the total cost.