Central Georgetown, usually known for its limited parking options, saw empty spaces available along many of its streets yesterday as motorists tried to avoid the city’s new paid parking system on the first day of its official implementation.
Following Monday’s approval of the Georgetown Metered Parking by-laws by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, drivers desirous of utilising public parking spaces are now required to pay to park in certain areas of the city.
However, during a tour of Central Georgetown yesterday morning and afternoon, Stabroek News observed numerous empty parking spaces, particularly along Robb, Carmichael, Main and Water streets as well as sections of Avenue of the Republic.
The “empty streets” was the topic for many yesterday as persons were genuinely surprised to have encountered the abundance of empty parking spaces. Some city workers opted to park outside of the parking zones in order to avoid the meters. In cases where persons utilised the metered parking spaces, Stabroek News found that the majority of drivers opted not to make use of the meters and parked without paying the stipulated parking fees.
Nonetheless, there was evidence to substantiate the use of the parking meters by a few individuals as receipts for payment were observed on the dashboards of at least two parked vehicles in front of the Demerara Mutual Life Insurance Company.
In an invited comment, Kit Nascimento, spokesperson for Smart City Solutions (SCS), the company contracted to carry out the project, said though it is too early to pronounce on the success of the paid parking system, SCS is “quite happy” with the response from the general public thus far.
Additionally, he wished to point out that while persons are expected to comply with the new parking system, those who opted not to pay the fees so will not yet be sanctioned as SCS is willing to be lenient with users until they familiarise themselves with the new system. Nevertheless, enforcement of the new system is expected to begin shortly, Nascimento added.
Stabroek News also observed that while some parking meters were up and running, others were not in operation, particularly those positioned along Church Street and some sections of Avenue of the Republic.
When asked to comment on this, Nascimento related that he was unaware of such a situation but would make efforts to rectify it.
But even as the use of the parking meters were expected to commence yesterday, many persons still seemed unclear on the components of new parking system, particularly the demarcation of parking spaces and the access to the disposable pre-paid geo-park cards.
As a result, information officers attached to SCS were seen interacting with members of the public, answering questions and offering demonstrations on how to use the parking meters.
According to two information officers who spoke with this newspaper, many persons engaged them on how the parking system works and the process involved in securing disposable pre-paid geo-park cards.
GTT in a statement yesterday advised the general public that the company is not a vendor/seller of Parking Meter cards. The company said it feels obligated to offer this clarification as a number of customers visited its retail stores yesterday requesting the cards based on media reports and direction from the Parking Meter attendants.
While some saw the advent of the new system as an adversity, at least one business saw it as an opportunity. The new parking system was being used as marketing strategy by Robb Street business N.P. Electronics International, which, in a Facebook post, announced an introductory discount to customers to offset parking fees. “The parking meter system is now in effect here in Robb Street. We’re just letting our customers, who drive, know that we will offer additional discount to offset your parking fees. However only when purchasing over $5, 000,” the post said.
The parking meter by-laws were approved by council on December 12, 2016 for the controversial project, which is meant to be implemented in two phases. The first phase is expected to see the installation of 157 meters to cover 3,237 spaces, while in the second phase, expected to be implemented in the first three months of 2017, approximately 163 meters would be installed to cover 4,000 spaces.
The meters are operational from Monday to Saturday, from 7 am to 7 pm. Parking costs $50 per 15-minute period.