CoH: City Hall Parking Revenue Has Doubled
Revenue at the City Hall car park since August 22nd “is approximately double the average daily revenue from July, when the car park was consistently full, which demonstrates how many people were parking all day for free, until now,” the Corporation of Hamilton said.
New Parking System Came Into Effect On August 22
The new paid barrier system came into effect on August 22nd, with the CoH previously saying, “The rates for parking will be $2.00 per hour for a maximum of 3 hours. Extra tariff charges apply after the 3-hour maximum limit, to discourage motorists from overstaying the limit.
“If a motorist exceeds the 3 hour limit, ordinarily they would receive a parking ticket. In this case as the car park barrier system does not require ticketing for overstays, the motorist is charged an additional $10, taking the total to $16.00 for up to 4 hours.
“Keeping in mind this is a maximum stay 3 hours car park, this can be considered lenient. However, upon reaching and overstaying 4 hours, the motorist is charged an additional $65 tariff, taking the total fee for 4 or more hours to $81.
“It is the City’s hope that this car park be used as intended, for stays up to 3 hours and that the higher tariffs will serve as an incentive to do so. Motorists who stay within the 3 hour limit are not impacted in any way by the higher tariffs.”
‘Double The Average Daily Revenue’
In response to Bernews queries on how the new system has impacted revenue, the CoH said, “Total revenue since Monday 22nd August averaged just over $1000 per day and there are still many spaces unused.
“This is from motorists paying $2 per hour, only a small number of motorists go over the 3 hour limit to pay $16 for up to 4 hours.
“This is approximately double the average daily revenue from July, when the car park was consistently full, which demonstrates how many people were parking all day for free, until now.”
so it is quite clear then that the CoH could now halve the size of the car park, still make more money, and create a nice public space for everyone to enjoy.
You mean like the very public Victoria park a block away? You are short sighted with your reduce parking suggestion. Christmas and the holidays are around the corner, not to mention the AC next year. We need the parking thank you.
You are missing the point – it seems virtually everyone who used that car park have found alternative arrangements. Who’s to say that won’t continue even over Christmas etc? And if the CoH is making a nice little profit as it is, why not let that be a public space?
This is also part of the inevitable cycle of human nature. The avoidance of change and the unfamiliar. I have heard many complaints about the new system, and frankly, other than the issue with processing cards and not having Easy Park functional yet (I understand the later is being worked on), all other issues seem to stem from user error. Not sure why, as the instructions are quite clear and CoH have had several staff on hand to answer and assist user, I’ve been around when the staff have had to field some of these complaints and some of the complaints seem to be just people who want to complain. I’ve used it now several times and other than the afore mentioned card payment issue, haven’t had a problem following the clear instructions.
You will see people using it more and more as it becomes more familiar to more people, so you will see more cars in there as time goes. Do not judge this low usage as a mark of low need, it is is the result of the double team of the CoH striking a blow to freeloaders and the human nature to avoid the unfamiliar until it become familiar.
It’s expensive though and I’ve used to once and because of that I will never use it again, I’ll either take my bike or ride the bus, never taking the car into town again unless it’s after paying hours. The system is far too complicated and this is coming from a young person, I’m 20, I get computers, but this is system is over complicated, it doesn’t need to be that difficult. And there aren’t any instructions on how to use it, it was a guessing game unless you say someone do it right before you attempted to do it.
$2/hour in the center of town is expensive? You need to get out more.
expensive!!!!! you must have left for the day and came back hours later….$2 and hour….wow….
What is quite clear is that the former Team Hamilton were not concerned with anything other than themselves.
Wrong! This problem was caused by the OBA holding up the City Ordinance.
Which City Ordinance? The one in which they wanted to get paid when no one had ever been paid before? The one which granted permission for the Mayor to get new suits? Or more recently the one where $18 million went into their preferred developers account and disappeared? Those Ordinances?
The parking lot was recently improved and proper regulations put in place. As a result of that revenue was doubled even though spaces are still available. It is a wonderful example of what can be done when those at the top THINK and don’t puff themselves up into thinking they know it all.
The former deputy mayor runs a private emission control company that has not failed any cars or bikes because there are no actual Bermuda standards for emissions. They simply collect money, by law, so that we are able to drive. No thought in that….how about getting some standards set and doing a proper job? Nope, it is all about how much money that company can shove into the shareholders’ pockets.
You support apathy and greed.
Wrong – this ordinance has been held up my previous administrations both PLP and OBA
they just keep rewriting history… sad really….
That should offset de $18 Million.
Yeah … right ! The 18 mill that cha boy got with the wangle under Team Hamilton admin when the guy you love to hate was fooled into thinking that they could be trusted for more than 5 minutes without someone looking over their shoulders.
It might offset the $100k given to that Black Mayor Conference person who impressed Donal.
What a farce. This car park is not a money making machine. At best and I mean being generous that car park can make no more than 200K per year. They just lying to the public to justify what they are doing. SMDH.
Good Job COH!! Finally people can find a decent place to park in town now.
More like a terrible place to park and now all the other actual decent places are full.
why dont you ride a bike to town Ash h_ _e!
I guess all the dislikes are all the ones who didn’t pay for parking in the past lol. Yeah it has some issues at the moment but at least i can find a free spot there when i need to nip into town to get something now.
I would like to suggest having a call/help centre phone line available 24 hours until everyone get the gist of this. I drove past there after 9pm the other day and a lady was stuck at the exit bar. Something had to have gone wrong, but there was no one there to help her. Having a number to call in cases like this should make the situation even better.
I recall seeing a number at the pay station, can’t remember id there was one on the exit.
Great idea.
Twice I have used the city hall parking lot and both times the pay station was acting up. It took three customers over ten minutes and several attempts to pay for our time there before being able to pay. Our credit cards kept getting rejected or no response. We were all getting more and more flustered. The COH must offer more support to customers through its so-called ‘calling system’ until the teething pains are reduced. When we called the phone at the pay station as well at the bar, there was no response. Additionally, the parking lot lists Easy Park as a payment option but I am still unsure as to how that would work. I have no issues whatsoever paying for parking, but I do not welcome all the issues surrounding this new system.
There is a number posted at the exit boxes and there looks to be call buttons at the pay boxes
Congratulations COH,
The right solution without clamping to control parking.
Well done on the extra revenues and savings on expenditures by having an automated solution. Government can learn by this example of offering an efficient service with minimal investment. Now it is time to control the other car parks.
I don’t intend to be cynical.
It appears that the public users of the City Hall car park were completely abusive. Based on the article, up to half of the users did not pay on a daily basis.
Do we know the total amount spent by the Corporation for the renovations?
The ultimate solution would have been for the government to allow the parking ordinance to be changed to enforce ticketing by the wardens. That would have required far less investment for the new system but a little more corporation between COH and the government (to approve the ordinance).
Hopefully easy pay can be changed to become ‘easy pay’ to help regular shoppers and shop keepers to have a better shopping experience.
Shame on those who previously abused the parking at City Hall.
Exactly. This just underscores their abject failure and loss of revenue. They had a good system but just needed to enforce fines. Instead they had a hissy fit when the clamping decision, correctly went against them. Parking should also be convenient. I have used it once sonce it opened. It was pathetic. And same on Sunday’s. But is sacking me a fortune as I enjoy Internet shopping fi stead of going to town.
Well said! Government was irresponsible on this!
Well stated!
I totally understand where you are coming from, but on the other side of this “argument” about parking tickets, don’t people duck out of them altogether and not pay?
For the most part, people crumple them up and throw them away, there don’t seem to be any repercussions of people not paying them. I hear so many stories about people trying to pay them and they can’t find a record to match against it…
problem with traffic wardens ticketing on car park property is the revenue goes to the Government – not to the CoH – so the entire system needs and overhaul and lets guess how long THAT would take!
Please excuse my ignorance as I don’t travel to town much.
Is the car park still free after 6pm and on Sundays?
After 6.00pm it is. Sunday? Not sure.
Yes, free on Sundays
yes.
I thought the same thing, the sign says Monday to Saturday till 18:00 implying it’s free thereafter, but the boom gates are closed on Sundays, can Bernews or someone comment on how Sundays and after 18:00 it works?
As I understand it, you still collect your ticket to get the entry gate to opening and get in, you just go to the PlayStation as you would when you want to leave and it recognizes the free parking and gives you a exit ticket to open the gate at the exit… or in the case of you parking there before 6pm, it charges you only for the owed amount before the free parking started.
did you not see the BIGGGGGGG FO picture above with ALL OF the reules above?
It’s just a matter of time before someone does get stuck in there and they just plow right thru the barrier, like they did to TCD’s barrier.
When was TCD’s barrier plowed down? The barrier was consistently left up during Tropical Storms/Hurricanes. High winds would snap it in two. Didn’t make much sense to have a barrier there in the first place. Driving instructors use the parking lot all the times of day and night, weekends. Couldn’t figure out why they would keep spending money to fix it? It’s such a waste.
Very good move for The Corporation of Hamilton to provide paid parking to the public.Now let Government and ,or Corporation of Hamilton provide additional security and proper maintenance of our public spaces,and parks,and beaches, and help to create more jobs for the public,and safety and security for all of us.They can free up our very vital Police Service to do the real job of Policing and crime detection that we now pay for.Also all of that money that they are scooping in from the courts,legal services,and bogus claims can be re-routed back into the public sector thus complete the cycle of economic prosperity in this island of bulging waist (waste )lines that are evident in our populous.Fat lawyers,fat judges,fat businessmen and fat policemen and policewomen.Peace.
@ Bdy bye.
Probably not. Because you have to swipe out before the barrier comes up and to do that you need a ticket.
Yes it is free after 6 and on sundays.
I have used it a couple of times. You still get a ticket on entry. You still take it to be validated prior to exit and it gives you an exit ticket at zero cost.
If you park before 6pm, the clock stops at 6 so you only pay for the hour(s) before 6pm.
It is pretty simple and works exactly like most mall and airport car-parks overseas. (One caveat – The pay machines do not give change so either have exact $$ or pay by card.)
but didn’t we have parking wardens??
The “Oyster” card system has been in place in the UK for YEARS and it is a simmple top-up system whereby you can recharge the card with cash at at kiosk, chippy, even some pubs and this is a far better system than a silly receipt that can be crumpled up.
It is far less often that people lose their credit card or OYSTER CARD that operate on a similiar scanning system.
If the government was smart – they would have long implemented that system which is paper friendly (no more bus tickets) and surely if the millions of persons that use the “Tube” in London or the metropolitan transport system in London don’t see a major issue with that system, then why can’t we get something similar that is integrated across multiple users???????????????
*intergrated across multiple modes of transport or parking lots. it simply credits the owner of the scanner money (it is a bit more complicated but I am sure a 5 yr old could explain it)
But to Pay with easy Park IS still not possible…………..
Was obviously a Smoke grenate to Calm People down…….
The Corporation has scored two goals
Drive offshore business away and promoted local shoppers to shop on line
How about the first hour free as it takes time to walk there and back.
I so agree with you Junk Yard Dog. If you do not leave by exactly three hours you will pay $16 instead of $4 which means that your maximum time is really under three hours. So shoppers will have to remember this while shopping in the city as you will need time to walk back to the car park, as well as time to pay at the pay station hoping there isn’t a line. One of the persons there with me on Monday was there under three hours but the pay station kept acting up. By the time her card was accepted she had gone the minutes over three hours and she had to pay $16 instead of $4.
They may be making $1000 a day, but seeing so many empty bays at all times to me is revenue lost. This parking lot should be operating at least 80% capacity during peak hours (9am-5pm). There’s nearly 200 bays in this parking lot. If 80% (160) of them where occupied for 8 hours/day at $2/hour, that would generate $2560 per day!
If i had the reigns on this project, i would have had a small study done to see what percentage of cars parked all day. Lets say it was 50% (or more by how empty it is now). I would have then set 45-50% of the bays for all day parking and charged a REASONABLE rate for it. This way revenue is being generated by bays that are currently sitting empty all day, but at the same time, there would still be plenty of bays for those popping in and out for quick business. This of course would also require a system that would keep track of the parking bays, but those are common and wide spread already in other jurisdictions. Those who ran this show just didn’t do a great job.
Stay with the boycott people! fight these clowns with our wallets