From the UK – The local council in the Caradon district in Cornwall decided that they wanted to lower the parking rates for the first hour of on street parking and penalize those parking longer than an hour with a steep increase for the second and succeeding hours. So they lowered the amount to 20 cents for the first hour. In comes the law of unintended consequences.
Their revenue took a sharp drop. Well Duh. Didn’t anyone think of looking at how long the average parker in the area actually parks on street? If they had, they would have realized the problem and could have either made an adjustment or simply took the hit for the revenue drop. They are “studying” the problem and a committee of consultants and counselors will report back to the council next week.
One more little fact that shores up my contention that governments are more concerned about collecting money from parkers than using the rates to affect policy. Let’s face it, it’s just another tax.
JVH
