Desman Recommends 1.50/hr Parking Meter Fees - 7th in a series on parking

Item

Identifier
gadfly0016
Title
Desman Recommends 1.50/hr Parking Meter Fees - 7th in a series on parking
Creator
Gallagher, Ed
Date
2018/09/21
Description
7th post in a series of posts on parking; At the Sept 20 meeting, Tim Tracy of Desman Design made a
presentation on the recommendation to raise the parking meter fees to $1.50 that included the following: The Bethlehem Parking Authority must cover its operating expenses, capital improvements, infrastructure, and debt through user fees; Capital repair over the next 10 years is estimated at $6 million; History shows that the on-street parking meter rate in 2002 was .50 and raised to the current $1.00 in 2012 (importantly, the off-street rate moved to an equivalent $1.00 as well in 2016); Meter rates are a “management tool,” and on-street rates can promote favorable turnover and drive long-term parkers into garages; Since on-street and off-street rates are now equal, there is no incentive to use garages; Comparison with a dozen or more other cities shows that the Bethlehem on-street rate is “under market”; Hence, the recommendation to raise our rates from $1.00 to $1.50; Benefits of the increase: increased revenue, more on-street parking available, and yet we would be at market rate; A reminder that all BPA expenses are covered by user fees; And that any surplus is fed back into the system; The timeline: the mayor decides, projected implementation is January 1, and Desman would market and promote the change; There is a plan to ease the transition into June, for instance, people using an app will pay the old price into June
Subject
Bethlehem, Parking, BPA, Serious Issues
Medium
blog post
Contributor
Gallagher, Ed
Publisher
The Bethlehem Gadfly
Language
English
Media
gadfly16.pdf