The parking meter saga

Feb 10, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The parking meter saga has reached the point of irreconcilable objectives. The City Council claims that the parking meters have brought order to Georgetown streets. Those protesting believe that the tariffs are unaffordable; they want the fees reduced.
Affordability for all and order in our streets are conflicting objectives. The objective of order cannot be achieved by making parking meters affordable. If parking in the city is affordable to all, then there can be no order because there will be no place for everyone who wants to park to do so.
There are other conflicting objectives. The parking meters were also intended as a revenue stream for City Hall. But in order for City Hall to attract decent revenues, it has to keep rates high enough to ensure that the cost of parking is far higher than the cost of administering the parking meters, and given that City Hall is only obtaining 20% of revenues, it is difficult to see how City Hall can encourage the company operating the parking meters to decrease rates without harming its own revenue intake.
Parking meters are intended to reduce the demand for parking, not to ensure that everyone can park. This is something that needs to be understood by all. Parking meters in the United States for example have caused millions of workers to take public transportation to work rather than drive to work since not only is there not sufficient parking for everyone but it is cheaper to use public transport than to park.
City Hall however cannot be serious about maintaining order in the city. City Hall has over the years allowed vendors to take over the pavements and to squat in front of businesses. Right now vehicles are not being parked in the areas metered for parking because people cannot afford to park. But the pavements are not clear either and the Stabroek Square has returned to its infamy. Order is therefore the least thing on City Hall’s mind. Fifty years of PNC domination of City Hall has left a legacy of disorder and dirtiness in the City. It will not get better until City Hall stops playing politics with vending and squatting.
The parking meter saga therefore cannot be resolved by reducing fees. This will make parking affordable for some but not for all. Even if City Hall gets the company to reduce the fees by half, it will still cost the average worker $800 per day to park. This simply will cause many persons to have to use public transport.
But the cost of public transport is now increasing. A short drop around the city used to be $300- $400 per trip. Some drivers are now demanding $500. So it will cost a worker far more to use a special hire than to park if the rates are reduced to $100 per hour.
The majority of persons who park in the main commercial district are workers who work at the post office, the insurance companies, the banks, the shipping lines, the major department stores, the lawyers’ offices, the hardware stores and the other business places.
Most of these persons are paying premiums on the loans for their cars. They are repaying $40,000 to $50,000 per month just so that they can get to work and get their children to school. They have to fill their vehicle tanks with petrol each week. Where are they going to find extra money for parking fees? Even at a reduced rate of $100 per hour. It will cost the average worker an extra $16,000-18000 per month. The office workers cannot afford this amount.
The President reportedly held an emergency meeting with City Hall. But City Hall cannot reduce any rates. It is the parking meter company which has to reduce the rates. City Hall can use suasion but it is in no position to twist the arms of the company. It signed away the rights to parking meters for 49 years to the company.
The tragedy of this whole system is that not only are the fees unaffordable for motorists but the penalties are highly punitive. If you estimate that you will take 15 minutes in the bank and buy 15 minutes of parking time but you get delayed in the bank, your vehicle will be clamped and you have to pay thousands of dollars to get it unclamped.
The struggle therefore cannot be about reducing the parking meters fees. It cannot be reduced much more because this will affect the objectives of the parking meter system. It will not end the chaos in Georgetown.
There is only one thing which can be done and that is to press for the abolition of parking meters or for some form of alternative fees such as what is being suggested in the letter pages of our newspapers.
But do not tell that to City Hall. They have signed on the dotted line and they will be sued for breach of contract if they do not ensure that the parking meters are up and running.

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