The Castries Constituency Council will come April 30, 2023 begin the installation of its parking terminals in the City.
This initiative was first announced in 2017 and the current council is building upon gains made including the reactivation of the contract with Saint Lucian based ICT company, Converge Solutions Inc.
The capital city of Saint Lucia has for decades been plagued with inadequate parking and as such this initiative by the Castries Constituencies Council (CCC) will help address this perennial challenge.
The new parking terminals manufactured by British firm, METRIC Group Ltd, are solar powered and designed to accept both coin and banknotes and have a colour user interface screen.
In addition, the machine also has the ability to transition to use cards and other non-cash payment methods. Metric Parking is the No 1 UK manufacturer of parking terminals.
METRIC have designed, manufactured and supplied over 60,000 parking terminals worldwide. METRIC won the BPA Parking Technology award in 2015 for the VivoPark solution – for barrier-free parking in retail. www.metricgroup.co.uk
The Minister of Local Government and Housing Honorable Richard Frederick in expressing his appreciation noted” I am pleased that the City Council will finally commenced this long awaited project. He noted that it was a team effort , which demonstrates what can happen when people and agencies work together.
The Mayor of Castries, Geraldine Lendor-Gabriel opined “ this council has embraced an ethos of getting things done. This is the only way we will be able to improve the lives of our citizens and the country. “
The council is pleased to announce the long awaited solar powered terminals.
Public reaction has been positive as many anticipate the positive impact which is expected in terms of easing traffic congestion and improving the ease of doing business in the city.
We have worked hard to see this through to implementation. We will need to continue working together to ensure that it realize the benefits anticipated including improved revenues and employment opportunities.
The full benefits will not be immediate but it will surely redound to the benefit of the City ‘s residents and visitors alike.
SOURCE: Castries Constituency Council. Headline photo: Stock image.
The parking terminal could have been black and white too. I dont want it .
Fix the roads
i welcome it cause most times you just want to pop in a store or two for about thirty mins and you have to park your vehicle very far. With this it is convenient and its way cheaper than getting a ticket from the police. but who will be monitoring these machines to see if the person using it has ran out of time or has not used it for parking etc?
How will this improve the lives of citizens? If parking is $2.00 per hour and you come to spend 3 hours in town to do business, that just increased the cost of your transactions by $6.00. Now imagine those people who work in town 5 days a week. $2.00 an hour by 8 hours a day by 5 days a week by 4 weeks a month. $360 right there. People will simply stop coming to Castries to do their affairs. All the ancillary small businesses that would’ve benefited from more visitors will now lose out. Penny wise, pound foolish. Way to go improving lives Ms. Lendor. Dumba$$.
Woulo, very good for the city !
Now, we must take care of them !
Congratulations !
In my humble opinion, I believe, if you work within the capital you shouldnt have the option to take valuable parking.
Your vehicle sits there all day, where as people hoping to conduct some sort of transaction under 10 mins and get out of town.
There should be a hub or parking hub and shuttling to Castries and back. A safe enclosed space (Fenced) where you pay a monthly amount to maintain operations and staff of said parking hub.
Odd if workers have to pay for parking they will eventually ask for raises to pay for those parking charges which will be passed onto you in the form of increased prices in the supermarket, higher interest rates for loans, higher insurance premiums, etc. Public transport is not an appealing solution for most people with vehicles.
NOTICE:
No location(s) mentioned.
FYI to some posters; the Conway Business Centre is THE most prominent parking terminal in Castries, which is always in use – as well as the cheapest! ($2.25 / hour), while others are $3.00 / hour. Unfortunately, this “terminal” only deals with cash, as do all the others within the city.
It is evident to me, it seems that some of people who have posted their views, do not park in the city – so to me, their “concerns” are null and void.
The mayor and that Minister have lost the point…the meters will not alleviate traffic problems. It will not! Get that right and please do not say this nonsense again! Castries needs alot more than parking meters to rejuvenate its center…if the mayor really wants to create an impact, she and Richard should outright ban certain vehicles from entering zoned areas like the boulevard! The urban planning thinking in the ccc for over 10 years have been retarded by nepotism!
Thank you Vision…
This is good. Next step, ban cars altogether. The roads are for economic activity. Not for people with no insurance and automatic transmission licenses.
Only in St Lucia, some people will complain about everything you try to do, but these same set of individuals will go to another country and adhere by their rules. If you don’t want to pay ,leave your vehicle in your own garage and take the bus.
So here’s the thing, is it a good income earner for the city and by extension, the country? It certainly is….but let’s not piss in people’s eyes and call it rain. The tax paying citizen who already pays for roads that are yet to be fixed, now has to pay to park, all under the guise of alleviating the issue of parking?? Really Richard and Geraldine?? How about create a bus terminal to house all of the buses and taxis that are parked up on the roads….the same ones who currently do not pay duties or income tax! And then you will really alleviate the parking issue in Castries. This is ridiculous, do better!