THERE has been plenty of talk recently on the subject of the parking meters, which are coming soon to the City of Georgetown. Many have spoken. However, the discourse here will be more relevant to our citizens who will benefit the most; for business always comes down to the dollars and cents of a project’s economic costs and benefits. Georgetown’s traffic woes notwithstanding, when it comes to metered parking on municipal streets, a wealth of empirical evidence and general analyses already exist and have been widely published and are available. However, before even considering these, let’s begin with a layman’s logic of how the city’s new metered-parking initiative may affect the layperson’s daily routine, starting from the quantifiable and moving onto the qualitative.
In order to keep it simple, let’s ask some simple questions:
#1. Would I, as a resident of, or a visitor to, Georgetown, prefer to: (A) Encounter a parking space immediately upon arriving at my destination, with such parking space being physically close to my destination; or circle the block(s) of my destination for tens or even scores of minutes looking for parking, while burning gasoline (which costs money) + wasting my time (which costs money)+ putting stop and go mileage on my car (which costs money)?
Would I as a resident or visitor of Georgetown, prefer to: drive in a city where traffic flow is fluid and unaffected by drivers searching for parking; or have traffic be substantially congested and slowed by the many other vehicles spilling over onto the streets on which I am driving as other drivers circle in their own search for parking?
Studies have shown that as much as 33% of traffic in cities is caused by the search for parking.
Have city-wide parking regulations which encourage mobility and parking space turnover and availability, and thus have my customers gain easy access in both their drives to my store, and in their search for parking near my store or have myself and each one of my driving employees and my suppliers (not to mention those of my neighboring businesses) park for free in front of my store all business day long so that when my customers come around looking for their own place to park, they are negatively impacted by the lack of parking space availability and the resultant increase in traffic congestion?
Yes, the questions formulated are indeed rhetorical. However, to render Choices (A) in each of the above questions a reality, there needs to be some sort of city-wide intervention. This intervention has come to Guyana in the form of the metered-parking initiative planned for launch in September/October. This will mean that Choices (A) will imply a certain cost. And, this cost, judging by all the press, is likely to end up in the range of 200-300 GYD per hour of parking. Certainly even a cost of 200-300 GYD per hour of parking is still a bargain when applying it as a COST for all the Choices (A) above, and then comparing this cost to the total cost implicit in all the combined Choices (B) above.

To be sure, the hourly unit cost of the metered-parking initiative MUST be priced right. That is to say, that too low of a parking tariff to be paid by those who CAN afford to own a car, and perceive that they CAN afford the luxury of driving their private vehicles to their city destinations, will not provide adequate disincentive to drivers from occupying parking spaces for prolonged periods of time. Thus, too low a tariff will not allow for the realization of the benefits of reduced parking space occupancy, reduced traffic congestion, reduced waste of human time, reduced emissions, etc. On the other hand, pricing the parking tariff too high could prove onerous upon drivers and prevent them from realizing the (properly priced) luxury of driving to, and parking in front of, their city destinations.
So far we have considered certain direct and quantifiable benefits of municipal-metered parking. However, the case becomes far more compelling when considering some of the other, more qualitative impacts metered-parking initiatives have had on cities the world over. These benefits can then be considered as somewhat of added bonuses, since we have already shown that the benefits associated with Choices (A) above, far outweigh their cost as detailed in Choices (B) above.
Having herein analyzed the Georgetown Metered Parking Project from the all-important business perspective, the conclusion is “Let’s do it.” Let’s do it for Georgetown. Let’s price it right. Let us reap all its benefits. Let this Parking Project be the first of many improvement and development projects that come to our shores. And let our city be modernized and developed to its full potential so that the city of Georgetown may stand shoulder to shoulder with the other great capital cities of the world.
Regards
Ifa Kamau Cush