NOTES FROM BIG BEN

By Peter Guest

Money, Money, Money
At PIE (Parking Industry Exhibition), Barbara Chance of Chance Management Advisors gave a great presentation. However, she said one thing that got me thinking: "Money is not the real objective." To most people on the public side of the parking industry, this is a Mother Earth statement; indeed, in the UK, it is enshrined in law.

But is it really true anymore? When cities first got involved in parking, I guess that it was "for the public good" - like drains and street lighting, to keep the streets tidy. Indeed, the first parking controls were to limit time and place without charging. However, it quickly became apparent that the easiest way to do this was by charging a few cents, and so along came the parking meter.

Of course, once money got involved, it became a business, and it is no coincidence that the two founders of NCP, the UK's biggest parking company, are on the UK's "Rich List."

The question is, given that there is a fully functional commercial industry out there, why should city councils still operate what should be a commercial undertaking in a non-commercial way? OK, maybe neighborhood parking for local residents is different, but why should the business district parking lot or street meter be looked at any differently from the lot operated by, say, Central Parking? I would welcome your views on this.

Order or Chaos: Take Your Pick
Here in the UK, I had predicted that the start of the new enforcement regime on April 1 would cause problems. The press coverage tells the story. One London borough council interviewed for Parkex News (yes, it's big enough to have its own newspaper) stated that everything had gone smoothly and there were no problems.

The most serious situation seems to be in Leeds. Activists have for many years argued that many if not all of the tickets issued in Leeds were invalid because the city's regulations signs and markings were a total mess. This made the local television news when even the government wrote to the city and warned that the situation was so bad that continued enforcement could amount to fraud or extortion. The city has, it seems, decided that there really is not a problem. A motorist has formally reported the city enforcement officers to the police for alleged criminal activity. Could the first person to go to jail for a parking ticket be the guy who wrote it, not the guy who got it?

Self-Enforcing Trees
At the other end of the scale of problems, many suburban areas in the UK, such as the one I live in, have a grass verge at the edge of the roadway separating the footway from the cars. Drivers park their cars on the verge to keep the road clear and they chew up the grass. The burghers of Kettering have come up with a green solution to this problem. They are planting hundreds of trees in the verges to keep the cars out.

Finally ...
Just in case you thought it wasn't about money, check out what's happening in Kingston, Jamaica. The city operates four parking lots in New Kingston where drivers pay to park Monday to Friday. Mayor Desmond McKenzie has been forced to take action to stop local "entrepreneurs" that move into the parking lots on the weekend and collect parking fees off gullible visitors to the capital.

Peter Guest is Parking Today's correspondent in Europe and the Middle East. He can be reached at peterguestparking@hotmail.co.uk.