My view: Downtown meters? Learn from Sydney

Al Younger |

5/4/2008 - 5/4/08

I lived in Sydney, Australia, at a time when big department stores were opening on the weekends; parking became a disaster. The Aussies used to do all their food shopping, of all days, on Thursday. The first supermarkets to open on Saturday were crowded affairs. Soon all the malls were partially open. On weekends, all the people living in the 'burbs would drive to town. During the work week, they all took the trains to Sydney, as that city has a fantastic rail and bus system and they did not have to pay for parking.

Meter parking in Sydney, at first, was from "Monday to Friday," as a sign so stated. Then the signs changed to "Monday to Saturday." They wrote a lot of tickets. Just about the time one became used to "Monday to Saturday," the sign changed to "Monday to Sunday," and a lot more tickets were handed out. This was especially hard on immigrants who could not read English, and Australia also has a lot of illiterate Aussies.

Then it happened — the people stopped coming to town on weekends. Now the local newspapers have an opinion section, and the people complained like hell after the "Monday to Saturday" signs appeared, but to no avail. The solution? The people no longer came to Sydney on weekends. The merchants spoke louder then the people, and they screamed. I could not believe it. Sydney on weekends was like a ghost town compared to what it used to be. The biggest mistake was when they started the program it was not the tourist season. Believe me, the merchants cannot survive on tourist-only business. Sound familiar?

The mayor of Sydney finally gave in and went back to the "Monday to Friday" program. The city had spent a fortune on signs and the system failed. Now, tickets in Sydney are not cheap! In one year I paid $1,000 Australian for parking tickets. They give parking tickets on a 24-hour basis. I received one at 2:30 a.m.. Sydney never fully recovered because people found different places they could go to on the weekends and not worry about parking.

The city planning board or whoever thought it would be nice to have parking meters are wrong if they think meters control parking. They only control the people who can afford parking or can afford the tickets. And most tourists stay in downtown hotels and walk to nearby restaurants.

Al Younger lives in Santa Fe.