On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:20:24 +0000, user wrote:

My town's last board meeting discussed parking fees for the currently free,
public boat launch. There is parking for about 60 trucks and trailers. It is
always full and often people don't park properly making it hard to park or
leave.
The proposal was a $5 fee for the vehicle per day. Single axle trailers less
than 20' long another $5. Double axle trailers or single axle trailers over 20'
long, $7.50. The estimate of revenue is $2,000 per week May-October and $1,000
per weekend mid-March-April and November. The parking would be free those week
days. December-early March would be free, but doubtful anyone would be there.
The argument I agree with is there needs to be more order in the current parking
situation. SNIP

Here in Canada, most ramps charge for parking rather than "launching". Most have
machines where you get your parking ticket, and I assume a "metermaid" kinda
person to check the tickets. A few have "attendants" that also help "traffic
control" at the ramp, sell bait, tackle, ice cream, etc. and usually have Good
Advice about fishing. You can tell them where you're going if you're going over
a day and they will inform the CG if your vehicle is still there after you're
supposed to be back.

Provincial Parks (where a lot of ramps are) have recently started charging for
parking, and there's quite an underground "economy" where people leaving will
give their parking tickets to those arriving. After all, we've already paid for
the park: why should we pay for parking?

Has it helped the "chaos" of the parking area? Not that I've noticed.

I think a SINGLE parking fee is the best, using a machine. Easy to set up, easy
to monitor. The "Attendant" can be nice but not necessary, and the complex
system you're proposing sounds way too hard to set up and monitor!

BTW: Parking-machine ramps are usually $3-7, and ones with attendants are around
$10-15 (CDN)

Lloyd