Chapala parking meters

An article on the front page of Guadalajara Reporter tells of the mayor and city council voting to install parking meters in Chapala centro within the next 3 months which brings a few issues to mind.

1. Currently most of the side street parking that will be metered is sucked up by residents since very few homes are built with garages and most properties are built out to the sidewalk. So where are these mostly low income residents going to park and how can they afford 6 pesos hr./48 pesos day/1,000 pesos mo.?

2. The rest of the Monday through Friday street parking is taken up by city employees and shop owners leaving very few extra spaces.

3. The police also jockey each morning for parking close to the station and those spaces are few and far between. Some of these guys drive in from Ixlawhatevercon and most are posted far from the station leaving them no opportunity to feed the meters.

Things are going to get interesting in Chapala, soon.

Absolutely, I thought the same thing. Of all the towns (other than out west like SJC) Chapala is the poorest and can afford expensive parking the least. I think it will put a dent in the business in Chapala and hurt the shop keepers and restaurants. And 6 pesos per hour - I don't know anywhere in Mexico that parking meters are that expensive. Even Tlaquepaque is cheaper!

It sounds like they didn't think that one through at all. Lizzy

Who knows how a governmental organization makes its' decisions?

I have often thought that our Salida City Council left their collective brains in a jar as a prerequisite to taking the oath of office. Lizzy

My guess is the vendor putting the machines in is paying for everything and will make a profit along with the city and that is why the price is so high.

I doubt the parking meter plan will work but supposing it does can Ajijic be far behind?

simpsca wrote:My guess is the vendor putting the machines in is paying for everything and will make a profit along with the city and that is why the price is so high.

I think that is definitely a valid deduction on your part, Simsca... I might hazard the guess that this "vendor" is gonna find some or all of his machines disabled in short order by a disgruntled population... probably in the middle of the night. The police will probably turn a blind eye. ¡Viva México! Lizzy

IMHO, what the town needs is a parking garage, paying by the hour the old fashioned way, with an attendant. Ajijic just got one near the Plaza. Don't know how that's working out, but when parking becomes impossible, the garages are a blessing. Even San Miguel put in a paid parking garage to ease the misery.

Meters are almost a self-destruct system.

With people not paying, the fines collected can be more than the profits from the meters!

A parking garage...Hmmm... Great Idea!
Speaking of which... I seem to remember a rumor a couple or three years ago that they were going to build a parking garage under Ramon Corona!
It sounds like wishful thinking and too much , but it doesn't sound too much weirder than the meters... Lizzy