Using Prague park and ride
There are several "Park and Ride" car parks around the outskirts of Prague (as shown on the DPP website) and this is how they work.
On entry you press the button to get your ticket. You park your car and on your way out of the car park there will be a payment machine. Here you have an option. If you are travelling outside of the "P", "0" or "1" areas i.e. central Prague area you need not pay anything at this point. If you are travelling within these areas (the whole metro/tram system and bus routes extending out 20km are covered by these areas) then you will be buying tickets at this point.
Prague Park and Ride Ticket Options
The P&R system allows only the driver of the car to travel at reduced fare. If more than one person is travelling then follow this guide until the end and then use the
DPP Ticket Guide to buy more regular tickets for the passengers. The three most popular P&R ticket options are described below;
Currently the basic transfer return full-price ticket to use the Prague Park and Ride facility is 50kc i.e. return tickets and parking is paid. In Czech this will be seen as "parkovaci listek se zpatecni jizdenkou". The ticket may be used only within the territory of the capital (zones P, O and 1) and only on the day of purchase (the day you parked) till the end of P&R operation on the same day. Travel times are the same for the Park and Ride tickets as for regular tickets i.e. in peak times you have 75 minutes of travel across 3 zones. In off-peak times you have 90 minutes. The travel ticket is in two parts, the first ticket will be marked as costing 10kc and the second will be marked as costing 40kc. Keep both tickets until you get back to the car.
The one-day ticket to use the Park and Ride facility on the day of parking till the end of P+R operation is 80kc.
The ticket may be used for any number of journeys within the territory of the capital (zones P, O and 1) and only on the day of purchase (day of parking) till the end of P&R operation. The one-day full-price ticket is validated at purchase by being date-stamped and this is 80kc. The full price ticket allows travel in all zones.
The Parking Only ticket is the 10kc option. You will only pay for your car parking and you will receive no travel tickets i.e. people travelling with monthly passes etc would use this option.
Get your car out of the car park before 00:30hrs. The official closing time is 01:00 but, people have been known to leave early. If you don't get your car out before it closes then 1) you are in a mess and 2) you'll have to pay another 100kc to the man who left early and caused all the problems.
The tickets dispensed by the machine are undergoing design changes. You may either get two tickets, one will have the validation bars on each end and the other is a receipt. In this case stamp one end of the ticket for each direction of travel. Alternatively, you may receive two tickets with a single validation bar on each one. In this case stamp one validation bar for each direction.
Entering the car park
.... all worked just like you said .... 
There are motorway signs on D1 and D5 which show how many spaces are on the closest two P&R sites. In my experience if the number is in single figures then you will find that the entry is "coned" i.e. blocked and you have to wait at the barrier until the Park and Ride "ticket man" gets off his arse to let you in. Bear in mind that the ticket dispenser will be on the left side of the car. Make sure you do not park in any reserved spaces for disabled or, in some cases, resident parking. These will be clearly marked.
Older car park option 1 - at the entry barrier you press the button and get a fairly square piece of paper with a barcode on it.
Newer car park option 2 - at the entry barrier you press the button and get a small "credit card" sized ticket with a magnetic strip on one side and date/time info on the other.
The Park and Ride Ticket Machine
Option 1 (older): First select your tariff i.e. press the button next to the desired tariff i.e 50kc or 80kc etc are most popular for tourists. Now press the button marked "Vydej" (which means enter). Now present your barcoded ticket to the scanner at the base of the machine. If the ticket is scanned OK then you will now be asked to deposit the requested money into the machine. After the money is inserted you will get your two tickets from the machine as described above. You must keep the original barcoded paper ticket for your exit from the car park.
Option 2 (newer): It works almost in the same way as option 1. When you enter the tariff info above you then insert the ticket with the magnetic stripe (magnetic strip down) into the small machine that will have "Vlozte listek" or something similar on it's display i.e. insert ticket. This smaller machine will be separate to the larger ticket machine. If the ticket is accepted OK then you will now be asked to deposit the requested money into the ticket machine. After the money is inserted you will take back the original parking ticket and get your two tickets from the machine as described above. You must keep the original magnetic stripe ticket for your exit from the car park.
The Travel Ticket
This is where people get confused. You get two tickets but, they are NOT both travel tickets. The ticket below is your travel ticket. Note that it had white spaces on the ends which I validated on my journeys to and from Prague.
You'll notice at the bottom of the ticket will be the tariff that you selected. In my case I selected the old 40kc tariff so thats shown by the "30kc" on the ticket.
The Parking Ticket
The parking ticket receipt also has white spaces at both ends because the machine only has one type of ticket. This one has "PARKOVACI LISTEK" written on it. It also has "TENTO LISTEK NENI JIZDENKA" which means this is NOT a travel ticket. Remember that this ticket is only a receipt. It's the magnetic strip or barcoded paper described earlier which will get you out of the P&R compound.
Exiting the car park
You generally have 30 minutes from the time of payment to when you must have exited the car park. This is normally written on the paper or car park ticket.
Option 1: Drive up to the exit barrier, scan the barcoded ticket and the barrier should open.
Option 2: Drive up to the exit barrier, insert the ticket with the magnetic strip (magnetic strip down) into the small machine. If all is OK, the machine keeps the ticket and the barrier opens.
What if the barrier doesn't open?
You speak Czech? Normally this is caused when you don't pay for the parking. There used to be a fault whereby it was possible to get travel tickets without presenting the parking ticket but, this was fixed. The common faults are that you have inserted the ticket the wrong way round (magnetic strip) or you are presenting the barcode on the wrong side. Don't worry, there will either be a booth with a man sitting in it who should spend some of his precious time to help you out or else, as is becoming more popular, you will find an intercom button on the exit machine. Just speak English to the machine for 30 seconds and hey presto the barrier magically opens.
Night Parking
There is a 100kc charge per night on top of the normal 10kc day charge. This extra charge must be paid at the manned office.
Official documentation regarding the Prague Park and Ride system can be found on the
DPP P&R page.
