Pre-paid parking vouchers were first introduced into the United Kingdom in 1987; the City of Bath being the first local authority to use vouchers to control on-street parking. Up until April 1992 a further seven parking voucher schemes were introduced. TRL has studied the effect of a number of these parking voucher schemes in controlling on-street parking. Parking vouchers have been found to be popular with local authorities mainly because of the low introduction and running costs and the avoidance of a need to install equipment on-street. This is a particularly attractive option in architecturally and environmentally sensitive areas. Some motorists have however found certain requirements of a voucher system cause problems. Examples of ten cited include the difficulty with remembering the date and/or time when validating a voucher and the need for motorists to ensure that they have a voucher in their possession whenever parking in a designated area. Retailers can also have an adverse effect on the operation of a voucher scheme if, collectively, they withdraw their co-operation in the selling of vouchers. These and other aspects of parking voucher schemes are discussed in detail. (A)
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