Survey: 61% have negative experience with parking
Six out of 10 people’s experience with parking downtown has been negative, according to responses to an online survey.
The city said 940 people who either patronize, work or live downtown responded to the Hot Springs Parking and Mobility Survey Walker Consultants conducted. The results are on the city’s website, http://www.cityhs.net.
The city stressed that Walker wasn’t contracted to study downtown parking, a subject other consultants have examined at length, when the Hot Springs Board of Directors approved the $85,000 contract in August. The company was hired to develop an action plan for a comprehensive parking management system, the city said.
More than 60% of respondents said their typical downtown parking experience was either somewhat negative or negative. More than 20% fell into the latter category, compared with 5.53% who said their experience was “very positive.”
“The majority of the parking is essentially free and unmetered,” Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer said. “When people don’t like something, and it’s free, they’re obviously not real happy with the level of service they’re getting. Sixty-one percent speaks pretty loudly.”
Spicer said the survey showed support for a paid parking system, one that’s more managed and better resourced than the current system of time-limited spaces and coin-operated meters.
“Overall, it does lend itself to the proposition that people are saying they’re ready for a more managed approach,” he said. “It’s probably well overdue. You would do it in a phased approach. You probably don’t need paid parking through large swaths of downtown or on the cross streets, but I think the survey bears out that you need some kind of managed system.”
A plurality, or 45%, said they’d pay for an annual resident parking permit. Forty-one percent opposed it. Almost 60% supported a similar idea for employee parking, with 58.75% favoring a reasonable monthly fee for employees to park in designated areas.
The city has said revenue from expanded paid parking could be used to acquire additional parking facilities or finance the construction of new ones. Current revenues don’t cover parking fund expenses, requiring a $221,052 subsidy from the general fund, according to the city’s 2023 budget. It’s the fund’s largest projected revenue stream, followed by $95,000 from the city’s roughly 300 coin-operated meters.
Walker has said paid parking should be where spaces are in high demand. Its supply and demand analysis from the evening of Sept. 10 showed 130% of on-street spaces along north Central Avenue and 82% along the Bathhouse Row section were occupied. None are paid spaces.
Sixteen percent of respondents said the city should reduce its reliance on writing tickets and instead charge a premium for on-street parking. Onstreet spaces are free. Most have a two-hour time limit.
More than half of respondents said they would like to see more parking or a free downtown shuttle during peak times. About a third said more curbside pickup and drop-off areas are needed for passengers and deliveries. Fewer than 20% said more charging stations for electric vehicles are needed, and fewer than 15% said downtown needed more parking for people with disabilities.
Less than a third said they would be willing to walk 10 minutes or more from a parking spot to their destination.
Spicer said Walker is scheduled to present its plan to the city board next month. The city will use the plan to write a solicitation for a parking services vendor.