This booth tells the tale:
The company is “Green Parking,” The idea is that if you use their equipment you are lowering your carbon footprint (It uses chip coins rather than printed ticket.) I got a demo and the pitch is familiar: “No evil paper or mag stripes to foul the environment.” I asked if the machines shut down to save electricity when not in use (huh?). I asked if they knew the amount of fuel saved by using AVI systems (Huh?) – Transcore take a bow. I asked …well you get the idea.
Most of the seminars had a ‘sustainability” component (see my comment on University parking below) and in virtually every booth there was new literature “spinning” the features of the equipment into a sustainable model. There were ways to provide electric charging stations and ways to charge for the power used. There were LED lighting systems on every corner and software programs to get people out of cars and into car pool, ride sharing, rapid transit, bicycling, and walking were ubiquitous. When I asked about setting parking rates based on the free market to entice alternative methods of transportation they looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. OMG, the public would never stand for that. However the recent desire by the European Union to have no cars in cities by 2050 seems to garner no concern at all.
JVH
