ShoupMade Visible – Toronto’s Pricing Problems


BY BERN GRUSH


meeting. I told himhe could park on a side street for $2 an hour or in the private parking lot under my building for $8/hr. Guess which parking option he preferred.


A The picture to the right shows a close of up the final 39% of


the distance he drove – all of it in fruitless circles to find a way to put his parking money in a City meter. Surely, 39% can’t be typi- cal can it? Can short trips engender this much waste?You bet it can.This trip should have been 5km, but was 8.25km. He cruised the block of Elizabeth between Gerrard Street


and College Street four times!Who’s at fault here? The carbon- burning, single-occupant vehicle driver trying to save $6? Or the City he was so eager to give his $2 to?


FRIEND WHO LIVES IN EAST Toronto is testing a new pay-as-you-go parking and insurance meter. He came to visitme lastweek downtown at Col- lege and University for a one-hour


Well, let’s think it through First, consider that my friend spent about 10-12 minutes


circling for parking which made him late for our meeting (he ended up in the $8/hr IMPARK lot).Thatmeans that he valued his time at about $36 per hour since hewas onlywilling to blow off 10 minutes to save $6. Others value their time less and cir- clemore – you can count on it. Second, my friend clearly would have paid anything


between $2.01 and $7.99 for the hour he needed. SoToronto is throwing that revenue away on many thousands of high- demand parking spots every day. I assert that with proper pric- ing Toronto would dramatically increase its parking revenue. I wish they would – and start repairing some streets with the money.The arterial nearestwhere I live is a single pothole inter- rupted by islands of asphalt. Third, my friend wasted a bit of gas and released a bit of


carbon. Even if GlobalWarming is a crock, this is not some- thing we want to be seen doing. Fourth, my friend generated some congestion. Circling or


WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PARKING SYSTEMS WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT?


When the power goes out, Alpha keeps your parking systems running. Alpha Technologies offers a variety of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and Battery Backup systems to keep your parking control and revenue systems active.


Learn more about Alpha Technologies during the International Parking Conference - Denver, CO May 17-20. Visit us at booth # 1034.


34


APRIL 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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