|
Government Report: Parking Meters Drove Away Visitors, Missed Revenue Targets
by WCWC Media •
Thursday August 31, 2006 at 06:24 AM
Confidential BC Government Report confirms Parking Meters drove away hundreds of thousands of park visitors and missed revenue targets by over 90%
Vancouver, BC - A confidential report commissioned by the BC government to review meters in parks confirms the program was unsuccessful in meeting revenue and attendance goals. The report, along with 800 pages of related documents, was released this week to the Wilderness Committee through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
-FOI documents reveal costs associated with the parking meter program included hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual expenses related to vandalism, maintenance, commissions and staff time. In 2003, the first year meters were in operation, revenues for the meters were just $51,000. The BC government has repeatedly gone on record saying the meters generated almost a million dollars annually in revenues for parks.
-FOI documents show that parking meters, located in 40 popular provincial parks, were directly responsible for over 700,000 annual lost visits to parks. The BC government previously tried to blame lower visitation on SARS, 9/11 and forest fires but the government report confirmed that 75% of the decline in visits to parks with meters was due "to the imposition of day use parking fees."
FOI documents reveal that future parking meter revenues may be overstated. Recently, parking meter commissions to many private Park Facility Operators (PFOs) increased from 15% to 50% of gross parking meter revenues. Government documents show "new service agreements with private and non-profit operators result in little or no revenue for the Ministry."
Government documents show public compliance with the parking meters is low. The purchase rate of parking tickets, defined as tickets sold as a percentage of attendance, is just 28%, reflecting both low compliance and meters that are out of commission.
"When you read this report you understand why the BC government has been sitting on it for the last 6 months," said Gwen Barlee, policy director with the Wilderness Committee. "The report confirms what environmentalists have been saying all along: that the meters massively missed revenue targets, had low public compliance and scared away millions of park visitors since they were introduced in 2003."
Barry Penner, the Minister of the Environment, commissioned the parking meter report in the fall of 2005. Penner promised a review of the meters in the spring of 2006 but has refused to release the report. The Wilderness Committee submitted a FOI request for the report and related documents in May 2006.
"At what point will the BC government admit that putting parking meters in parks was a mistake?" queried Barlee. "The government has ignored conservationists and the public on this issue, the question to ask is will they heed basic accounting and listen to their own consultants, or will they continue to let ideology trump common sense?"
In 2002 the governments Recreation Stewardship Panel projected net revenues from parking meters to be between $4 and $6 million annually. The BC government later lowered that projection to $2 million annually. Washington State recently axed their day-use park fees after an unsuccessful trial initiated in 2003.
-30-
For more information call: Gwen Barlee 604-202-0322 (c) or 604-683-8220 (w)
mr
by ed allen •
Saturday October 07, 2006 at 04:58 PM
edallen@shaw.ca
what a suprise, not. many tourist visitng our parks are not stopping because of the parking meters. another waste of taxpayers money, thats why BC stands for Bring Cash!!!!!
| 
