PT's Parking Blog

Parking System works flawlessly, and fails”

The city of Reading PA has done a study on a new parking system. It failed. Oh the system worked flawlessly, but the people didn't use it. The concept was parking meters that have sensors in the street and could be updated by cell phone.

The city got a lot of data, found that people do a better job of paying for parking there in Reading than the rest of the country (77 vs 50%) but that not a single person used the feature that allowed them to add time to the meter.

As Mark says – is that a solution in search of a problem?

Oh, and I wonder at the 50% number. How could they possibly know. Without single space monitoring, it is virtually impossible to tell how much time is lost due to non payment. I wonder if the folks in Reading didn't just pay more because the meter was new and jazzy and they wanted to use it out of curiosity? My understanding is that where these monitoring systems have been installed, the compliance number is considerably lower than 50%.

Read all about it here

JVH

A solution to the “Snow Day Parking Problem”

We are sort of throwing around the "where do cars go in the winter when they can't park on street" issue on twitter and Bobra Wilbanks from POM came up with one solution :

I'll bet you could pawn your car for a month or two in some big cities to avoid the snow plows -- cheaper than pay-to-store!

I like it.

There is a story about a gazillionaire in Manhattan who went into his bank and asked to borrow $10,000. He said he would leave his Rolls Royce as collateral. They were confused since he had a million on deposit but they took the deal. He handed them the keys and left on a two week tour of Europe. When he returned he paid the $38 interest and got his car back. When asked about it he said he couldn't find any cheaper, safer place to leave his car for two weeks in the city.

Or the guy who brought his car to the city once a week and each week he took it to a garage for a $19.95 oil change. They kept the car for the day. He also said that it was the cheapest parking in town.

JVH

Thanksgiving…

OK it's a day early but I plan to do no work tomorrow…R and I are going to Norm's restaurant for turkey and all the trimmings ($9.99) and then to a movie. We have moved our Thanksgiving celebration to Saturday so it can be spent with family that have other obligations on this day.

I remember the days when the kids were growing up – We would "do" Thanksgiving at one grandparent's house, and then drive 100 miles to "do" it at another. David mentioned to me yesterday that at least we got a real dose of L-tryptophan. I now wonder how we made it home without falling asleep. Now we have a tradition of moving the celebration to fit the family's schedules. Makes a lot of sense to me.

But what about giving thanks? For those of you outside the US, this may seem a tad strange. We have a holiday that is built around feasting and giving thanks to our good Lord or whomever we happen to worship, for the abundance we enjoy. It seems that this is a unique holiday for Americans (Ok I know, I know Canadians and Australians celebrate the day, but if you talk to them, it just isn't even close to the same.) Here in the US, this is our biggest family holiday. People travel for days so families can be together. There is traditional food – usually turkey in some form with dressing (stuffing) and vegetables, five kinds of potatoes, wine, and various kinds of dessert (usually somewhere in there is pumpkin pie).

Stuffing is my specialty. I base it on week old bread crumbs, (make em myself) and pork sausage, raisins, mushrooms, celery, apples, and a bunch of spices including sage, pepper, and some secret ones I can't remember but will when I see the bottles in the cabinet. You make a ton of the stuff, put in the turkey, and even under the skin, and then put the rest in a pyrex dish and bake it. Periodically when the turkey is dripping, you use one of those "turkey basters" and put the juice in the extra stuffing.

Usually there's half a turkey and half the stuffing left over. That's good because then you can have turkey and stuffing sandwiches – usually with some cranberry sauce. But why am I writing all this. You know it already.

This is a year I'm thankful is over and we are as healthy and prosperous as we were when it started. We had the recession, lost two dogs, have a sick cat, had one car totaled (no one injured), lost a third of the tree in the back yard, and moved half the household to Atlanta. But we survived very well, thank you very much.

All of this has gotten me to think about people who groan and moan about their troubles, woe woe woe. They complain about everything. They remember every detail of every problem they have had since kindergarten. Then I remember that everyone has basically the same problems. Anyone who has ever had a pet has lost a pet. If you own a tree, part of it has fallen down. If you own a car, you have had a wreck. People move, jobs change. And we all survive. It's a thing called life.

So my thoughts on Thanksgiving go to the fact that my life is full, busy, exciting, sometimes frightening, but never dull. The problems are opportunities (new dog that doesn't bark, new car, replace that tree that is so dirty with a pergola, and I get to see a part of the country I seldom visit. But I thank the good Lord most that I am a "glass half full kind of guy." As R would say – "suck it up and get on with it." Not a bad approach when you consider the alternative.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow – Eat too much, watch football til you drop, and then spend three days recovering. And give thanks…

JVH

Thanksgiving and Free Parking…

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and thus the beginning of the Christmas Shopping Season and city after city are offering "free" parking for folks coming downtown to shop. If you look at the news feeds every other one is something about a certain garage, or downtown, or shopping area providing "free" parking. Bah Humbug

The Christmas shopping season is hectic enough without having to run around searching for parking. Parking charges help provide parking by culling out the folks who can park in offstreet lots and in structures far away from the shopping area. These people are the employees who work in these stores and offices.

If you offer "free" parking, they will simply get there before the stores open, fill the choice spaces, and your customers, those who have hundred dollar bills dripping out of their pockets and purses, will be forced to park blocks away and fight their way to your front door.

The Thanksgiving holiday is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Shopping areas should think about what they are going to do about their employees and free up those spaces for shoppers.

My suggestion? Find a lot nearby (even a vacant lot) and have your employees park there. Provide a shuttle to the shopping area for them. Just think, if just 20 stores with 10 people working in each did this it would free up 200 spaces. And assuming that each shopper taking those spaces spends two hours, that means in a 10 hour shopping day TWO THOUSAND people would have had safe, convenient parking right out front of your store.

Changing the rules and providing "free" parking, particularly that which says something like "First two hours free" leads to citations, misunderstands, anger, and public relations nightmares.Stay the course; be consistent, free up parking spaces. Remember the lots and streets around your stores are like churches and temples, you don't build them for Easter, or Yom Kippur. So be creative, make allowances, and have a Happy Thanksgiving and a perfect Christmas shopping season.

JVH

Free Parking is in our Genes

In his excellent blog over at Parking World Blog, Pete quotes Ashok Datar who says building off street parking won't work if people can park for free on street. He channels Don Shoup almost word for word.

In India, as in the US and Europe, that "birthright" of free parking is ever present. I always joked that it was in the governing documents of a country, whether a constitution. the Magna Carta, or the treaty of Lisbon. However Pete's post has had me rethink that position. It must be in the Human Genome.

JVH

Dubai to convert Parking Lots from Asphalt to Grass

Read all about it here. The folks in this second of the Emirates want to go green, literally. They are planning to take all the parking surface lots in the city and cover them with grass. I wish them all the luck. they will need it.

Not to be completely negative on the subject, but my experience, somewhat limited I agree, tells me that this is a gargantuan task. It will require a lot of engineering, replacement of topsoil, grading, reinforcement, fertilizer, cutting, and the like. Of course this shouldn't be much of a problem in a country where they build islands in the shape of palm trees and have the tallest building in the world.

However, I wonder at an alternative. Why not plant trees? They would take less water and maintenance, provide the "green" feel the city is chasing and more importantly SHADE to help in those 50 C ()140F)summers.

There is something else. Those Bentleys, Ferraris and Rolls Royces have a lot of torque. That power on the rear tires has a tendency to tear at the pavement. What will they do to grass, even the reinforced variety?

JVH

Re: Chicago

By the way, I made no comment on the city's side of this deal. Actually if you think about it, it's a good one, as one commenter on my original post below mentioned. They got a ton of money up front, have no risk, and no concern that in 75 years we are all "beaming" from place to place and parking goes the way of the dodo.

JVH

Chicago Comments (Below) Confirmed – Some Pretty Unhappy Investors

I checked with my guru on investing and yep, I was right. He said that Morgan Stanley most likely projected a 10 percent or so return to its investors a year ago when the deal was cut, but then…there are no guarantees. The bank (Morgan Stanley) makes its money on the fees it charges to put together these deals and also a percentage when it is sold. They use OPM (Other People's Money) so their corporate downside is minimal if any. His comment:

    All in all, I guess that they have some pretty unhappy investors.

JVH

It’s Mystery Parking Time again

Cities across the snow belt are letting their citizens know that effective on a certain date (usually December 1) overnight parking is banned on most streets. The reason – Snow. They ban on street overnight parking so the plows can get through and move the snow around. Fair enough. But here is my annual question for all you living where the white stuff piles up. Where do you put your cars?

See, during the warmer months, folks park on the streets and complain that there isn't enough parking. Now when it snows the cars just up and disappear. Where do they go? And if they can go there in the winter, why not in the summer?

I usually get stories about folks who own two cars, one a beater that can take the snow and ice and salt and a good one to drive when the sun is warm. They exchange locations depending on the season. But that doesn't answer my question. There is still a car floating around that has to be put somewhere.

My point is that if there is room enough for all the cars to park off street in the winter, why is there such a parking problem in the summer?

I'm waiting for the answer.

JVH

Skiers Should Pay to Park

What is arguably the most expensive sport in which the individual citizen can participate? Fishing, surfing, running, golf, tennis, hunting? No. I believe if you add in all the gear, tickets and travel expense, Skiing is number one. People who ski have to have a disposable income up there with Midas.

So, the folks in Telluride, Colorado, are arguing over free parking for skiers. Seems the folks who own the mountain that brings those who ski to town cut a deal a few years back to turn over some parking structures and the like to the local town. The deal was that the town would supply free parking to skiers. Well that was then, this is now. It costs the town about a million a year to provide the parking, and they, like others, are cash strapped. They went back to the well and of course are now embroiled in a fight.

My position. Skiers should pay for parking, whether it's in the cost of the lift tickets or when they enter the parking lot. Obviously the most fair is for the cost to be unbundled. Those who drive, pay. Simple.

After all, if they continue to offer 'free" parking, the million has to come from somewhere. And the city will simply raise taxes on everyone to get it. Telluride will become more expensive to visit than say Aspen or Steamboat, and the numbers will go down. Increased taxes will be reflected in lift tickets, meals, hotels, and cost of items in the shops.

Parking isn't free.

JVH