SOLVING PARKING PROBLEM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 17, 31 October 1938, Page 4

SOLVING PARKING PROBLEM.

The British motorist who longs .for a more vigorous policy on ear parking in cities will learn with interest and perhaps with envy, of the devices recently adopted in the United States, notes the “Manchester Guardian.” Our New York correspondent lately described the parking meters which some towns have installed. Where these are the rule the motorist who claims space by the pavement must drop a coin in a. machine that carries a clock and a flag. He may then leave his car for the period he has booked—usually an hour at the equivalent of 2}d—but if he fails to “clock on” or overstays he is liable to a fine. Now our correspondent gives particulars of attempts to prevent parking by providing for what amounts to non-stop shopping. The customer collects the goods he wants from the counter while passing it in his car. He enters, at the driving wheel, one end of a U-shnnod building, A grooved track guides his front wheels, leaving his hands free; the goods arc so placed that he can reach them without dismounting, and he settles for them as he makes his way out at the other end. It sounds a nerve-wracking method of replenishing slocks. The leisurely hunt for bargains is clearly precluded. The shopping list would have to be carefully memorised beforehand, lor it would he intolerable to make the whole circuit again if one had, say, iorgotten the salt. But the system appears to be growing, especially in California, and even the banks sometimes use it—for the acceptance of deposits, although not, apparently'-, for withdrawals. It may strike us as odd, hut we in Britain must remember that we have as yet only one private car to each 27 of the population, while in the United States there are 25,000,000 cars to .30.000,000 families.