Saturday, August 16, 2008 Alabado: The squeeze in parking By Roberto P. Alabado III Planning Perspectives
AS A vehicle owner, it is now normal for me to go drive round and round downtown just to find parking space, wasting expensive fuel and time while contributing to traffic congestion. I suspect that this is the cause of my high blood pressure at most times.
I think the LGUs do not purposely pave city roads to serve as private parking spaces since these roads were constructed mainly to move traffic. After all, providing parking spaces is not the main responsibility of the local government but of building owners. Building owners owe it to their clients to provide them with available space to access their services and goods.
This dilemma is worsened by inconsiderate drivers who just do not know how to park correctly, thus consuming more parking space than their vehicles require.
Why can't they just park close to the sidewalk? Their vehicle's wheels should be not more than 1 foot away from the edge of the sidewalk. Some even occupy parking spaces meant for two cars. How rude!
I think it is time for LGUs to come up with some ideas to rationalize parking and prevent the abuse of our limited parking space.
We have to identify areas where on-street parking will be allowed and prohibited. Where there is heavy traffic, the necessary parking restrictions must be put in place. Another move is the prohibition of on-street parking where a heavy volume of public utility vehicles passes through. This will allow more space for the jeepneys to load and unload their passengers rather than just stopping in the middle of the road. We must always prioritize the needs of the public vehicles and the commuting public. Public vehicles have to follow a fixed route whereas private vehicles can park in less busy streets.
Another regulation that must be imposed is higher parking fee for on-street parking, perhaps 10 pesos for the first three hours then five pesos for every additional hour (cheap if you compare this to Makati and Cebu). A much higher rate like 20 pesos per hour can be imposed in major streets at the city center to decongest traffic.
I wonder what happened to the parking fee ordinance of the city? I think that collection of parking fees can be better managed by the private sector as shown by Makati City and major cities of the world. The city will just collect its due through taxes. Parking fees should be treated as primarily a regulatory tool rather than just an income-generating scheme.
The road is a public good therefore the private car owner must pay the public by renting that piece of public property for their private use. This may be also seen as a penalty due to vehicle's temporary obstruction of streets. The high parking fees are also meant to discourage car owners from using the city streets as their personal parking space for long hours. Priority must be given to those who need to access the services of the downtown area and park for a few minutes or an hour or two at the most.
Third is the strict enforcement of the inclusion of parking spaces in building design. Let us not allow buildings to use sidewalks and public roads as their parking spaces. Let us not allow vertical or oblique parking if they will just occupy the sidewalk.
I just can't believe that a local university built huge new buildings that can accommodate thousands of new students without providing new parking spaces and loading and unloading bays for their faculty and students within their private property. The faculty and students are now using city streets as parking spaces or as loading and unloading areas causing traffic jams for the rest of the public.
New buildings are being constructed within the city center but they fail to provide their own parking spaces and have even gobbled up sidewalks to be their parking spaces. I just do not know if our building inspectors are just being plain blind or just do not know the Philippine Building Code regulations on parking spaces.
It's time to provide investment incentives to encourage the private sector to put up parking malls for private vehicles. The private sector can build multistory parking lots within the downtown center so that the city can ban on-street parking within the city center eventually. For now, the local government can persuade the owners of the many empty lots within the downtown area to open up their lots for public parking and or face idle land taxation.
Of course, some people may think that these ideas are too radical for Davao City and other cities of Mindanao but these have worked in Makati City and other cities in the Philippines so why can't it work here? Some fear that this will discourage people from going to the downtown area but I think that the cheap quality services and wide range of products of downtown shops are just too attractive to be ignored by smart shoppers. Should these measures be implemented here I predict that there will be a smoother traffic flow and enough parking spaces for everyone so they can easily access the exciting downtown activities and its affordable services.
For me, less time spent in looking for parking space may result to lower blood pressure.
