Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Introduction:
This is an updated column from a year ago given this issue was once again raised by the Mayor of Georgetown and the need for new revenues in order to improve the city. The fact that the Government does not pay their share of taxes to the city on time and holds the city hostage is sinister. Withholding our taxpaying dollars from the city and other institutions such as Critchlow Labour College is a blatant disregard for the well-being of the citizens. In addition, a methodology needs to be established to share national tax revenues with local bodies such as some percentage of the VAT which we all know is excessive and needs to be reduced. With increased revenues, the city can meet the needs of Georgetown and work on other improvements such as beautification.
The need to invest in new technologies in order to improve public service efficiency and increase revenues is needed. There are a few systems that are standard in the developed world that would fit practical improvements, if implemented in Guyana.
Parking Meters:
It has been over two years since the Deputy Mayor Robert Williams announced that they were introducing a parking meter system in Georgetown only for this initiative to be squashed by the government. With the influx of so many vehicles in the 1990’s to present, if not parking meters they could have instituted some formal parking system. As it is today vehicles are parked where their owners feel like parking them and they are few legal parameters as to how people should park. With a parking meter system and a legal framework of how we in the city should park, we can address a few issues:
Issues Congestion
Regular congestion, parking-induced congestion (congestion due to an ill equipped parking system) that allows cars to over congregate in the main commercial areas resulting in crowding and stagnation on city streets.
Pollution
Pollution; with the ever increasing flow of traffic into Georgetown, deleterious effects have resulted from the CO2 emissions from trucking, minibuses, taxis and private cars. With this system the society can be encouraged to get back to the bicycle revolution like what is taking place in Paris and around the world. We can create safe zones and secure zones for people riding into the city to park or lock their bicycles. This will also contribute to our health fitness. A structured parking system can also help us lower our carbon footprints due to the fact that once you institute a structured parking system, more motorists will consider paying the $60 fare against looking an hour for parking.
Public Transport System
With an introduction of a system of this magnitude, we can foster a better public transportation system. In most cities that developed a structured parking system there are improvements to the public transport sector, and that sector is better utilized.
Increase in business traffic
In many case studies when structured parking is implemented, there is a direct correlation between the increase of business traffic to the specific area as a result of parking restrictions or paying to park. The argument is that there will be an increase of vehicles in and out of the structured parking zones. Motorists will pay to park, transact their business in a timely manner and leave. That movement will allow more motorists to do the same. Motorists will park at a specific time all day and not allowing more customers to the area.
Civil Citation System
From this system we can use the same backend software and hardware to enforce all city by laws where the city can issue a citation or a warning. In the current system there are no checks and balances and no backing up of citation data for easy retrieval. Thus, the system is underutilized or not functioning at the moment.
Cost
The implementation of such a system would require some form of technology (organization of knowledge, people and things to accomplish practical goals) It would also require some major investment in equipment and with the council strapped for money, the Government will need to pay up their taxes in order for the city to accomplish this goal. Many would support such a plan for a structured parking system and some parking meters within the city. It is something we need. With the upfront outlay of money to implement the system, it will definitely pay for itself over the years. There are two types of technology that the city can use to accommodate this. 1) Park and Display systems are used in many countries. This technology is simple, and instead of having one meter for every car, they can have one meter to cover a wide area. Motorists will then pay at a station bay (Pay and Display Meters), receive a receipt and display this receipt inside the front windscreen of their vehicles and go ahead and park within the area marked as a pay to park. One of these meters cost US$8,000 – US $10,000 and with a few sprinkled around Georgetown it would be good enough to collect revenue to justify its existence.
2) The second technology is what they call park by phone. This is an easier and far cheaper to operate technology. This technology will allow drivers to pay for their parking via their mobile phones. They can either have it engineered here locally by GT&T and Digicel or let a developer/third party carry out the task. If we have the local phone companies engineer the system, they will be paid from a percentage of the parking fees that are collected via their systems. If we start by using ten of these meters(US$100,000), park by phone system(US$65,000) and a good citation/ticket writing system(US$90,000) a total investment in equipment of US$255,000. I know that there are enough cars parks within this city every day to have revenue totaling that and over within two years.
Conclusion:
This is a basic automated system that should be fully supported and will be useful for a developing society like Guyana. As usual, we tend to take a very long time to implement any proposed plans especially if it wasn’t the central government idea. I believe the city already has a proposal on the parking meter system ready to go. With all the noise from the council that they are strapped for cash, I would think that they would vigorously seek to implement this project. They will be able to raise some funds and get some credit for bringing some form of order to the city that is desperately needed. This system will employ many young people, broaden the technological scope of Guyana and provide a much needed infrastructure that can be built upon and improved for the overall betterment of society. Until next time “Roop”.
Send responses to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com
