Chairman of National Parking Systems Irfan Cush, who has signed an agreement with the City Council to install parking meters around the city, said he believes their implementation will see Georgetown’s congestion decrease significantly.
Cush, who is also a director of Smart City Solutions, said he shares the same vision as President David Granger and the Mayor and Town Clerk of Georgetown of having a clean and green Guyana and he believes the introduction of the parking meters is one step forward in achieving same.
He explained that the project will be done in phases and the first phase will see some 300 parking meters rolled out starting in September. The 300 meters, which will cost more than US$10 million, will cover a span of 3,000 spaces, with one meter per 10 parking spaces. “They [parking meters] will contribute to the reduce in pollution, reduction of congestion, regulation of the flow of traffic and more significantly… will create a brand new revenue system for the city of Georgetown,” Cush said. He expects between $100 million to $200 million will be generated in the first year, which the city council will use to help deliver its mandate of providing services and amenities to the citizens.
Some areas will have parallel parking, while others will have diagonal, 45, 60, and 90 degree angles parking. “The engineers will determine what type of parking is done on which street,” he said.
While the prices have not be settled on, Cush explained that currently the price will be $125 per rotation, which will last 15 minutes, and persons will be able to use Near Field Communication (NFC) payment cards. Persons will be able to purchase cards varying from $500 to $10,000. Persons will also be able to use their mobile phones to recharge their subscription to the meters in case they are unable to access them at any point in time.
The proposal was first put forward to the government and council in 1996 by National Parking Systems, and was approved, but was not implemented for some reason and Cush explained that while the traffic flow and congestion has drastically changed over the two decades, recent studies were done which found that the implementation of the project would drastically reduce the congestion and improve the traffic flow.
“We have done our studies and have observed the traffic flow in the city and based not only on the studies we have done but also our experience in Mexico, Peru, Panama and Turkey [it is clear] that the introduction of parking meters is the best solution that can be deployed in terms of controlling the flow of traffic,” Cush said, adding that several other studies worldwide had shown that the implementation of paid parking meters had reduced the congestion as much as 35%. He added that informal consultations were done with drivers around the city and the outcome had been positive as persons were in support of the systems. “One driver even suggested that it be $400 per rotation and what is important is that the citizens of Georgetown understand that we need to collectively put our shoulders together… for the common good. Too long have there been a lot of lawlessness, filth and dirt in the city,” he said, while stating that the project will see a transformation of the city back in to the “Garden City” as it was once known.
Among citizens parking around the city, taxi drivers take up a large amount of parking space and Cush stated that special provisions would be made for them. “Almost all taxi drivers pull into a space, fill up and leave,” he said, stating that they are proposing that the taxi drivers pay $100 per trip, instead of paying per rotation as normal drivers would have to pay. Cush added that special provisions would be put in place for handicapped drivers.
It is expected that there will be persons who will not adhere to the parking meters, and Cush explained that the primary law enforcement will be the city police and that the fines for breaking the law have not been worked out yet.
The city council, in a statement, stated that the initiative has a number of benefits for the citizens, which include the business community and the Georgetown municipality in general. “These benefits include: providing employment for citizens; allowing parking to be done in an organized manner; reducing traffic congestion and boosting the city’s coffers,” the statement said, adding that the parking meters, which will be equipped with solar panels, will be programmed to interface with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese speakers. They will also be equipped with GPS and the ability to dial 911 automatically to deter vandalism.
The statement explained that the streets that were identified for the parking meters are: the Avenue of the Republic, Regent Street, Robb Street, Camp Street, Main Street, Brickdam, Water Street, America Street and Church Street.
The city will be divided into two sections, which will see two companies installing meters—
National Parking System and Astrolobe Technology. The council had also approved the installation of parking meters by Astrolobe Technology in 2007.
Mixed reactions
Around the city, drivers were split on whether the project would have positive effects on the traffic situation. Some drivers were in support, while others were of the opinion that it will add to the congestion problem.
A taxi driver who operates around Robb Street said it did not make sense for the council to have parking meters around, especially for taxi drivers who use the parking spaces to operate. “Nothing ain’t going down. Gas still the same, the roads still the same and always damaging your car and the parts don’t change price but now they want to charge us more to operate? I understand if they want to do it in the park [Stabroek Market Square] but here ain’t make any sense,” the man said, explaining that if the taxi drivers were to increase their fees by $100, the public would be enraged.
“You can’t be using $4 and making $5. It don’t make any sense to business at all. The problem is that all of these business and banks around the place don’t provide parking for their employees and they are the ones who take up all the space,” he said, while suggesting that the council figure out a way for the workers to park somewhere else and then be shuttled to work.
Ragnauth (only name given) another driver, said he thinks the implementation of the paid parking meter is a good idea and will ease the congestion. “Some of them people does be real unreasonable and does be parking long, long and when you come to do a some shopping or you want to stop at a store you got to search all over for a piece of space,” the man explained, stating that the meters would ensure that persons do not “hog” parking spaces and they will be more hesitant to stay long. “Sometimes you does even got to park far away and then walk back. I don’t mind it but more people got to learn to make the sacrifices and I think this will help ’cause they got so much parking all over outside of the busy places,” he explained.
Another driver said she thinks it will bring more organisation to the flow of traffic, while also adding welcomed revenue to the city council. “Almost all of the countries around the world have a paid parking meter system and when you compare how the traffic flows in those countries and here you see a significant difference and I believe that is because of the whole parking issues,” she said, while stating that it is always difficult to find a space to park in the city and parking lots are expensive.
She pointed out that while most parking lots have prices, such as $300 per half an hour and $500 per hour, the $125 per fifteen minutes is welcomed as sometimes people do not spend more than that in the spaces. “There are some people who really just want 10 minutes in the spot to rush into a store and get something but they can’t because you have people there parked all day and will not move,” she added.
Another driver, McRae (only name given), told Stabroek News that the decision did not sit well with him as he did not agree to it. “People already don’t even make a lot of money in this place and now they adding unnecessary bills for people? It don’t make sense man. What they need to do is ensure that all of these big buildings around the place make provisions for parking,” he said, suggesting that the council ensure that new buildings use their bottom flat strictly as parking and that they use the parking spaces efficiently.
“Like when they changed the diagonal parking around the place to parallel, it didn’t make any sense. Especially for Robb Street, that is a one way. Parallel parking takes up about three spots that cars can be diagonally parked and because they change it a whole new confusion was caused,” he explained, while stating that if they really studied the flow of traffic, they would be able to turn several roads around the city into one ways and be able to accommodate diagonal parking.
