HowMuch Do You Charge for On-Street Parking?


D


R SHOUP: I WAS DOING SOME math on our parking spaces here in Portland and comparing it with off- street rates. At our current on-street rates ($1.25/ hour), if one could park


for eight hours every weekday all year (less holidays, of course), itwould result in amonthly rate of $209. In our city, a reserved, off-street space is $185 permonth.


On the face of it, this seems to be very market-based, with


on-street rates exceeding those in private off-street lots.We have generally high occupancy (85%-95%midday) and are discussing supplemental rate increases in those with highest occupancy. It is here that I should state that all meter revenue, including citation revenue, generated in Portland goes into the Transportation gen- eral fund not the city general fund, and so supports street light- ing, traffic signals, street sweeping and all the other services that our office ofTransportation provides. The supplemental rate increases aren’t exactly the variable, up and down, variety I’ve read somuch about in your e-mails and


articles (essentially, there’s no down). However, I’ve at least broached the idea of variable rates, particularly paralleling our garage rate structure. Publicly owned garages are by policy dedicated to customer rather than commuter parking, so rates hold steady at $1.25/hour for the first four hours, then escalate hourly, with a dailymaximumlimit ($10-$12, depending on the garage). Regards, Keith Ehrensing, City of Portland. Keith: Thanks for your message. Portland is, as usual, way


ahead of most other cities in its transportation and parking poli- cies. Nevertheless, even Portland could improve its curb-park- ing policies. In response to your question aboutmeter rates, Iwould com-


pare Portland’smeter rate ($1.25 an hour) with the price per hour in the nearby off-street spaces. Specifically, I would compare the meter rate with the price of the first hour of off-street parking. This is the comparison that driversmake.


Continued on Page 34


TCS Single Space Monitoring Parking Solution Parking Guidance


Parking Access & Systems Revenue Control Systems


Under Vehicle Monitoring Systems


The TCS Single Space Monitoring Parking Solution       availability. Each overhead mounted single space sensor detects vehicle prescence through ultrasonic                   change in occupancy is transmitted to space availability signage.


      in designing intelligent parking transportation systems.                                                   colleges and large employee parking lots.


USA TCS International Inc.


55 Union Avenue  Sudbury, MA 01776 P. 978-443-2527  F. 978-579-9545


See us at the IPI booth #537 32 MAY 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com sales@tcsintl.com  www.tcsintl.com Canada TCS International Inc.


70 Six Point Road  Etobicoke, ON M8Z 2X2 P. 416-259-4862  F. 416-252-0285


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