Credit Cards & Parking Meters
Note: My posts from this point on are probably going to be somewhat chaotic as I digest the process the last Applied Dream and explore opportunities. Entries will still be related to sustainability, although is less obvious ways than in previous posts.
Looks like New York City is always interested in your parking habits. And to increase their profits from parking fees and parking tickets, they’ve installed some solar-powered parking meters which accept credit card payments, according to an article on BemroseBooth.com
“Parking is one of the biggest challenges in a large, congested city with limited space, and the DOT continues to look for new ways to make parking easier for drivers,” said Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall. “Under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership, the City is embracing new technologies to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.”
The numbers tell the story:
In the past 18 months, a number of other major U.S. cities have installed pay and display machines with credit card payment facilities and have seen parking revenues increase by up to 40%, on a like-for-like basis. In some cases, up to 60% of all transactions are being completed with credit cards, as drivers find them particularly convenient and are, therefore, inclined to pay for the maximum parking period permitted. Card transactions reduce the volumes of cash that have to be collected by the operators, making them a more secure and cost-effective means of payment.
I find this interesting because of the obvious conflict of interest: the city wants to provide parking for vehicles because fees and fines provide a very large source of revenue for the city. (This report (.pdf) suggests that 14,000 parking spaces can generate $33 million a year from metered parking rates alone.) Yet at the same time, traffic is a huge problem in the city. As described in this report, over 830,000 cars enter the Central Business District of Manhattan, 60% of which are personal cars. This means that the other 40% of vehicle traffic consists of trucks, buses, commercial vehicles, and taxis.
(I found the above links on schallerconsult.com)
Now, I remember hearing about a service which parks you car for you in Manhattan. Not such a big deal, right? Well, this valet service (if you can call it that), is for your personal car, which they stash somewhere around Manhattan, moving vehicles around as alternate side of the street parking goes into effect. When you want your car, you call the service up and they tell you when they’ll be able to deliver your car to you.
In effect (or at least as I imagine something like this working), you get home to your brownstone after a weekend in the Hamptons, give the keys to some dude from this service, he runs off with your car and parks it somewhere. You don’t need your car during the week, so the service moves the car around to avoid parking tickets and the like. When you need your car the next weekend, you give the service a call. Someone goes out and fetches the car and delivers it to your doorstep. Not a cheap service, by far, but it’s an interesting model to take inspiration from or build upon.