Municipality introduces parking marshals
Aims to reduce congestion
The City of Windhoek (CoW) announced the introduction of parking marshals to ease parking congestion in the CBD.“The reality is that land within this area is scarce and comes at a high premium,” the City said in a media statement. “The provision of parking is therefore extremely expensive and parking management needs to be applied to ensure limited parking is appropriately managed to ensure the necessary turnaround of parking.”
Due to the very limited parking space, the idea is that each bay be used several times per day to cater to all CBD visitors. “The primary objective of on-street parking is therefore to discourage long-term parking and [thus] appropriate rates need to be applied to achieve this goal.”
Other benefits
Besides allowing more people to park in the CBD, the CoW said that the introduction of a formalised parking marshal system has statistically shown to reduce criminal activity on-street. “Parking marshals, equipped with radios, can report any suspected criminal behaviour to the parking operator’s office and law enforcement control rooms. Over time criminals become aware of this connection between the parking operator and local law enforcement, which reduces on-street petty crime to almost zero. In this regard, previous informal car guards were offered preference in accepting positions to be employed as parking marshals.”
As the demand for parking varies across the CBD, various parking areas have been classified into zones according to the demand for turnover. Areas with a higher demand attract higher charges to ensure the necessary turnover and access to all.
Zones and tariffs
Tariff boards are displayed in parking zones, showing the exact parking rates for that specific zone. On-street parking duration: 0 to 60 minutes or part thereof.
ZONE A (CBD core Fidel Castro, Werner List, John Meinert and Judge JP Karuaihe Street): N$8 per hour.
ZONE B (Outer core Sam Nujoma Drive, Tal Street, Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue, Prof Mburumba Kerina Street and Robert Mugabe Avenue): N$5
ZONE C (Outskirts of the CBD Julius Nyerere Street, Jan Jonker Road, Dr Agostinho Neto Road, Rehobother Road, Tal Street, Sam Nujoma Drive, Robert Mugabe Avenue): N$3.
How the system works
The parking marshals appointed are identifiable wearing KeyPlot-branded uniforms and name tags.
For every transaction, the parking marshal shall issue a receipt reflecting the unique parking number, the rate applicable, as well as the registration number of the vehicle. Payment is to be made in advance.
No payment is to be processed without having received a receipt. If the marshal cannot provide a receipt, such parking shall be free.
The receipt is to be displayed on the dashboard of the vehicle. An invoice is issued and fixed to the windscreen, should the driver have left his vehicle before processing payment.
Parking marshals do not have the authority to issue parking fines but can inform City Police of transgressions to do enforcement where relevant.
All parking marshals will be in a uniform with a KPI logo. They will have identity badges with the KPI logo and employee number. Each marshal will also have a labelled handheld device.
Customers are asked to use the following payment methods: Cash, KeyPlot parking card, or KeyPlot Parking coupon. The KeyPlot Parking card can be purchased at KPI offices, no.6 Gutenberg Platz in Werner List Street or contact the KPI Customer Care Kiosk at Town Square Parkade; KPI Customer Care 085 7838206.
Effective management
The CoW said that by using effective management practices, the 1 250 on-street bays in the CBD can cater to approximately 9 000 vehicles visiting the area during the peak hours of the day which would not have been possible if vehicles were occupying a parking bay for long periods or the whole day.
“A good parking management system will ensure that parking bays are available to be used several times per day which in turn will encourage more people to come into the CBD for business purposes, thereby enabling the potential of growing economic activity in the CBD which often declines as a result of congestion or lack of parking.”
The City added that managing the turnaround of vehicles occupying high-demand parking spaces through the charging of a nominal fee per short-term occupancy is a well-established practice worldwide, with similar systems being employed in cities such as Durban, Harare, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Lusaka.
While parking management is not new to Windhoek, the previous mechanical parking meter system became outdated and dysfunctional and was replaced with the current system.
“By implementing parking management, the City of Windhoek aims to balance the need for parking with the efficient use of space, ensuring our city remains vibrant and accessible to everyone,” the City said.