Business Booms In Welsh Town Where Parking Meters Have Been Broken For A Month

[Adam White]

Parking meters have been a hotly-debated topic on MJ for years. I thought this was an interesting article.

(For the record, I tend to support parking meters - or at least I'm sympathetic).

Business is booming in one Welsh town where parking meters have been out of action for the last month.

Firms in Cardigan, mid-Wales, feared their sales would seriously drop after the pay-and-display machines were vandalised in June.

They'd initially been installed to boost trade - with councillors saying they'd prevent traffic congestion which could drive people to out of town malls.

So business owners have been pleasantly surprised in recent weeks after experiencing an actual upturn in commerce.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/no-more-pay-dismay-business-090746281.html#7AWpzCF

[vicupstate]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article27358735.html

Employees and customers of some businesses along Camden Road aren't happy with the newest addition to the streetscape: parking meters.

"Why?" asked Stephen Price, owner of Price's Chicken Coop. "That's the biggest question. Why after all these years?"

The popular South End lunch spot has free parking in the back, but customers have long parked in front of the store to dash in and pick up their chicken. Now they have to feed the meter: 25 cents for 15 minutes with a two-hour limit.

The meters, in place since June 22, grew out of a 2012 study by the Charlotte Department of Transportation. They were installed to prepare for the influx of vehicles expected in the area with the September opening of two Camden Road projects, bringing 50,000 square feet of retail space, 50,000 square feet of office space and 420 residents.

The city hopes the meters will discourage those permanent residents, and employees of businesses along Camden, from parking all day on the street, said Allison Billings, vice president for Charlotte Center City Partners' neighborhood development, transportation and sustainability. That would free up those spaces for customers, the thinking goes.

But some customers aren't happy about paying for parking where it used to be free.

"If they weren't so busy, I was going to ask them if it had hurt their business. I think it would," said Jim Palombit, while eating Price's chicken in the back of his pickup truck. "I think in the long run it could deter someone from coming here."

Price, the owner, can say this much: "I'm not happy about the new meters. I can't really judge if it has affected business yet, but lot of our customers aren't happy."

Billings said the city would meet with Price to hear his concerns.

Billings also said that a series of complaints from area businesses also prompted the installation of the meters. The complaints stated, she said, that cars were parking in front of their stores all day, creating inconvenience for customers.

But employees of businesses along Camden say the meters have created problems for them. Cassie Brown from TCG Events said her staff has access to only three parking spaces. She said her interns use the metered spaces, and have to move their cars every two hours to prevent parking tickets.

"We're not a big fan of the meters," Brown said. "There's no parking, we don't have anywhere to go. It's a real issue. You can only stay two hours, and they track that."

Jochen Tartak, co-owner of Ashland Advertising, new to Camden Road as of nine months ago, said had he known the parking problems would occur, he might have considered other locations.

"Right now, I can tell you the meter parking is creating a lot of issues," Tartak said. "We're basically having to look for parking wherever we can find it. You have to drive around sometimes five or 10 minutes just to find a place to park."

Each business on Camden Road was given 100 complimentary one-hour tokens for parking, according to CDOT. Businesses can purchase additional tokens for 75 cents each to give to their customers as parking vouchers.

"We feel like we accommodated them to our best ability," Billings said.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article27358735.html#storylink=cpy

[marksjax]

I still think meters are really bad for retail businesses downtown.
Only way to prove my theory is to try an experiment that removes them.
Not expecting that will happen though.

[Adam White]

I still think meters are really bad for retail businesses downtown.
Only way to prove my theory is to try an experiment that removes them.
Not expecting that will happen though.

That's not a bad idea. Cover them with bags for a couple months and see what happens.

[thelakelander]

Speaking of parking meters, here's an article from yesterday's Jax Daily Record.

Should Jacksonville raise parking rates for first time in nearly three decades?

By Max Marbut, Staff Writer

While the cost to park a vehicle in a metered space Downtown can sometimes be a contentious issue, a survey reveals Jacksonville's fee of 50 cents per hour is among the lowest of major cities in the country.
The subject came up during budget discussions between the new mayoral administration and Public Parking Officer Jack Shad.

While it wasn't presented as a proposal, or even a suggestion, Shad cites a survey published in 2013 by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that compared hourly metered rates in 46 cities.

The most costly parking among cities surveyed is in Chicago, where as much as $6.50 and as little as $2 per hour is charged for metered spaces.

At the low end of the range is Redwood City, Calif., which like Jacksonville, charges 25-50 cents per hour.

Two cities in Florida were surveyed. In Miami Beach, an hour in a metered space costs $1-$1.75. In Tampa, motorists drop 25 cents-$1.50 in a meter for an hour of parking.

Shad said parking rates haven't increased in Jacksonville for about 30 years. He presented during the budget discussion a calculation of increased revenue if the city were to double the metered rate to $1 per hour at the 525 electronic meters installed Downtown. That would increase annual revenue from about $422,000 to more than $782,000.

full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545792&searchtext=parking

[Steve]

I've always been more of an advocate for time, not pay.

The original reason for the meters as I understand it was to enforce time. There meter was a twofold solution:

1. A device that someone triggered to indicate he/she had arrived
2. The coin not only deterred someone from just going to every meter and turning it, plus it paid the person to check it.

With technology today, we aren't in the same position. One thing Seattle does is a "standard block". They have 1-2 meters at the front that are 30 minutes, then there is a freight loading spot, then all of the rest of the spots are 2 hours. You could set that up (or any sort of time limit today) without meters.

Putting all of this aside, I'm not convinced the Credit Card meters are that much of a deterrent to people coming downtown. I thought the old "Quarter, Quarter, Quarter" meters definitely were. I think the exorbitant rates (note: Exorbitant for the quality of our downtown) for the off-street parking (lots/garages) is a much bigger issue.

[Steve]

Speaking of parking meters, here's an article from yesterday's Jax Daily Record.

Should Jacksonville raise parking rates for first time in nearly three decades?

By Max Marbut, Staff Writer

While the cost to park a vehicle in a metered space Downtown can sometimes be a contentious issue, a survey reveals Jacksonville's fee of 50 cents per hour is among the lowest of major cities in the country.
The subject came up during budget discussions between the new mayoral administration and Public Parking Officer Jack Shad.

While it wasn't presented as a proposal, or even a suggestion, Shad cites a survey published in 2013 by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that compared hourly metered rates in 46 cities.

The most costly parking among cities surveyed is in Chicago, where as much as $6.50 and as little as $2 per hour is charged for metered spaces.

At the low end of the range is Redwood City, Calif., which like Jacksonville, charges 25-50 cents per hour.

Two cities in Florida were surveyed. In Miami Beach, an hour in a metered space costs $1-$1.75. In Tampa, motorists drop 25 cents-$1.50 in a meter for an hour of parking.

Shad said parking rates haven't increased in Jacksonville for about 30 years. He presented during the budget discussion a calculation of increased revenue if the city were to double the metered rate to $1 per hour at the 525 electronic meters installed Downtown. That would increase annual revenue from about $422,000 to more than $782,000.

full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545792&searchtext=parking

I spoke to CM Love about this last night. He hadn't seen the article, but when I expressed that if we consider the quality of our downtown compared to the "cities surveyed", raising parking fees isn't likely a prudent move. Improve the downtown and the parking fees will rise too.