Big Ben in the Real


LA-LA Land from Page 52


doubling in a year. Now the picture is not so good. Uniquely in the world,mortgage rates in the UAE went up as lenders tried to cover the costs of mortgage defaults from the remaining lenders. Property prices have fallen by 25%, and the ex- pats (and about 80%population is ex-pat) are between a rock and a hard place. If you lose your job,


your work permit lapses, and you have 30 days to get out. Many properties sold to ex-pats were offered with “residency” status, meaning that pur- chasers could take advan- tage of the UAE’s zero tax regime. Now that the going has got tough, it seems this is not as secure as it appeared, and people literally have to abandon homes and leave when their jobs fold. The parking regime is interesting.


The city operates about 55,000 street spaces, about the same as LA, I believe. These are metered with pay-and- display, but the charge is applied only in the morning and afternoon, with a three-hour break in the middle of the day. This probably was relevant 20 years ago, when people took a midday break to escape the heat of the day. But I am not so sure that it has relevance in amodern air-conditioned city. I understand that, throughout the


port staff member reported that in one day 24 high value cars were abandoned this way.


Traffic Engineering 101 Meanwhile, back home in snow-


bound Britain,Manchester has dropped its proposals for congestion charging following a 70%rejection in a local ref- erendum, and is nowreportedly looking at the workplace parking levy option being pursued by Nottingham. The whole idea of


Shopping malls do not understand that free air-conditioned parking attracts local workers to the detriment of their customers.


city, a lot of off-street parking is free, and so street-parking charges have been held down, with an hour’s parking cost- ing around 25 cents. Parking fines are $25 to $50 depending on circum- stances; this is one of the highest pay- ment-to-fine ratios I know of. In some places, the private sector has moved in with off-street lots costing from $2.50 to about $6 an hour. The picture is further complicated


by the shoppingmalls that either do not understand that free air-conditioned parking attracts local workers to the detriment of their customers or charge the higher end of the private sector charges but refunds it all if the visitor spends about $25 in the mall. How do you deal with that, Professor Shoup? The city realizes that the parking


regime and their policies need revisit- ing, and are beginning to move forward to develop newideas. Itwill be interest- ing to see how the combination of eco- nomic conditions, the completion of the new metro system and the revitalized parking regime affects how the city develops and works. One more thing: There is a new


parking phenomenon at DubaiAirport. Apparently there are so many ex-pats losing their jobs in the UAE that it is causing a new problem, the abandoned car. In a country where bouncing a check puts you in jail previously well paid ex-pats who lose their jobs and can’t meet mortgage payments, pay for the car, school fees or other bills simply drive the Merc to the airport, park it with the keys in and go home. One air-


54 MARCH 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


these powers is to reduce city centre traffic con- gestion by taxing free workplace


places. Way back in the


stone age, we knew that in a dense, congested city road network, if you reduced the number of trips going to the city


centre, then other trips simply took advantage of the reduction in conges- tion to re-route, and the net effect in the city centre wasminimal. One of the founding fathers of John Wardrop,


transportation,


explained this in principle as early as 1962, but it seems that traffic engineer- ing 101 is no longer taught here in the UK, and so cities will continue to pur- sue bad ideas because they do not understand what they are doing.


Peter Guest is PT’s correspondent on all things European and Middle East. He can be reached at peterguestparking@hotmail.co.uk.


PT


Read PT’s sister Publication


PARKINGWORLD At


www.parkingworld.com Find out what’s


Happening in Parking, worldwide.


parking


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64