Editorial Opinion by Cindy Cotte Griffiths: Missed Opportunity With The Parking Garages

>Last Friday I did a little Christmas shopping in Rockville Town Square. When I pulled into the parking garage on Rt. 355 by CVS, only 170 spaces were left. (Here’s a picture of me fooling around with the mirrored ceilings in the elevator. Usually when I’m in the garages, I don’t need to go up a few levels to park during the weekdays and since I was all by myself, well, you know.)

The garages seemed well-used and I doubt the drivers of all those vehicles were shopping or eating in the Square. Were commuters taking advantage of the free parking in our City garages through January 3rd instead of parking in the Metro lot?. Even in the cold, I think at least some of these drivers were willing to park and walk over to the Metro to save money because when the garages were first opened and free, they were packed with commuter cars.

During the election season, when the Town Square merchants asked for changes in the parking fees, the mayor and council agreed to a $1 flat fee for evening parking and no charge on weekends. In order to increase revenue, a goal of attracting 200 additional monthly parkers was set and projections were based on a total of 400 monthly parkers.

Everyone agreed that the monthly rate of $65 would have to be advertised. People suggested handing out flyers at the Shady Grove Metro.

• At our monthly rate of $65, people would only have to park 14 days per month at Metro’s $4.75 rate in order to come out even.
• Metro’s monthly rate is $55 to reserve the spot but you must pay $4.75 per day on top of the rate. So, if you parked 20 work days in a month your total would be $150.

Our garages offer quite a savings for commuters.

So I wondered why there hasn’t been more advertising during this free parking season. We, as a City, are giving away the parking and possibly attracting people who are willing to use the City garages for commuting, yet we aren’t taking any actions to convince them to be the monthly customers we so desperately need. These are our best prospects.

Personally, I don’t like the flyers on my windshield but these drivers are parking on our dime so we have every right to bombard them with advertisements. The only sign I noticed was a small plastic tent with “Free Parking”. A few more signs and banners would help the effort.

This is a prime opportunity being lost. In the business world, if you get them in the door, you do everything possible to make the sale. We need to be much more business-like if we are going to pay off our parking garage debt with something other than our tax dollars.

If you know someone who parks in the Metro lots to commute, let them know about the Rockville garage savings, a nice present for the New Year. Parking passes for the City’s 355 Garage P3-P5 levels can be purchased from the garage pay stations.

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