Robb St bus parallel parkin drive commer

Between the now year-old transition from diagonal to parallel parking and the impending implementation of controversial parking meters in the central business district, some Robb Street businesspersons fear that the city will become a “ghost town” in the future.

“I am a businessman and I’ve been here over 50 years. My concern is that the soon to come parking meters on my street [Robb Street] is going to cause a big crisis,” Suresh Narine, owner of Narine’s Liquor Store told Stabroek News.

Narine pointed out that since the change from diagonal to parallel parking, sales have dropped some 30% to 40% and are expected to drop even more with City Hall’s parking meter project.

“It will be a heavy financial burden for all businesses. Since they started with the parallel parking programme, everybody business went down and people have been cutting costs, easing off staff because you have to do something to keep the business going. When you would normally fit in a corner and transact your business but now it’s not the same,” Narine added.

In addition to the parallel parking affecting his business drastically, Narine predicted a further drop for businesses throughout the central business district if the proposed metering project is to become a reality. While Narine admits that there is a need for City Hall to have other plans to garner much needed revenue, he pointed out that the proposed plan is not wise and would only cause a downhill spiral for the business community in the surrounding areas.

“No customer is going to come and pay $300, or whatever the proposed fee will be, to come and buy from me. So, basically City Hall will be chasing my customers. I am really going to have to do something real special to keep and bring new customers,” Narine pointed out.

The man also explained that since he has a delivery service, the parking space in front of his store is frequently used and argued that the cost would be unfeasible for him and his customers. “My vehicles take about two hours to load and I have customers in the [meter-designated] areas. What’s going to happen? I will have to pay to load and then pay to drop o w p s m

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