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. However some motorists have found certain characteristics of voucher characteristics of voucher parking cause problems. Examples often 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 cooperation in the selling of vouchers. These and other aspects of parking voucher schemes are discussed in detail in this report. (A)
Samenvatting