Posted on 07/16/2015 6:58:06 AM PDT by Blackyce
Cardigan Council bosses have been struggling to find £22,500 needed to repair the four pay-and-display machines in the Welsh town's main carpark - much to the delight of shopkeepers who have reported a rush of shoppers enjoying hours of free parking.
The vandalism has accidentally exposed the fact that parking meters, far from generating revenue for a town, appear to cripple trade and kill town centres.
Locals and visitors to the picturesque town with a Norman castle have been thronging the town which had previously seen a dearth of shoppers due to having to pay for a limited amount of hours to park.
And now small shop holders, who raked in up to 50 per cent more takings, are calling for their situation to be mirrored across the UK in a bid to stop the rapid decrease of high street shops.
Café owner Jane Roche said: "The town is much busier, with customers saying that it is really nice not to have to rush back to their cars."
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The primary function of parking meters in these towns is to ensure that parking spaces aren't occupied continuously for long periods of time. If you are a downtown business, it doesn't do you any good to have a local resident's car parked in front of your store for hours or days at a time.
Seems to me that the meters were an additional tax for which the voters did not approve. Give government an inch, and they’ll steal your house.
If they’re going to have metered parking, it should only be at a few prime locations. More meters does not necessarily mean more income.
That was the original intent. Over time, it's morphed into a tax on street parking with the main aim being revenue generation.
That usually happens in larger cities where fewer and fewer customers of the local businesses actually drive their cars to the business establishments and park on the street. In New York City, for example, you could eliminate on-street parking entirely and very few retailers would even notice the difference in their sales volume.
I don’t think politicians are capable of ever understanding that the parking meters have kept customers away.
Beat me to it. One of my all time favorite movies.
Apparently some here don’t understand it.
You have no idea how hard I was sweating over board code to get this posted. It’s been that long since I posted a picture.
Luke, you magnificent bastard !
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