Evening star., 1928-05-27

Action by the Philadelphia downtown
merchants in providing free parking Is
a symptom of the constructive methods
which will free traffic, in the opinion
of Alvan Macauley, chairman of the
street traffic committee of the National
Automobile Chamber of Commerce, as
indicated in the monthly report Of that
group published this week.
Merchants of the downtown section.
Philadelphia, in combining to provide
free parking space for their customers
have taken a step which is likely to
have far-reaching influence all
through the country" says Mr.. Macau-
ley. THE answer to the parking ques-
ton is not to ban automobile parking in
the normal course of business. but to
build accommodations and operate these
at a reasonable rate of return"
"To provide parking space" Mr..
Macauley indicated, "is simply mat
ter of common sense.
Communities build good roads take
a pride in the number of automobiles
which ale owned in the region. and
generally recognize the value of motor
transportation.
One Feature Neglected.
obviously any branch of transporta-
ton must have its terminal facilities.
Yet this is feature which has been
| neglected The result has been, espe-
cially in cOngested sections. that the
volume of parking cars has come tC
clutter the streets. Following that often
comes the suggestion of limitation OF
| parking privileges. This, however, can
| be only a stop gap. The very fact that
| cars are parked at any given point Is
| evidence of the need for some terminal
| facility at or near that point.
philadelphia merchants evidently
| find that motor transportation Is sutfl-
GENTLY important to their trade to war
| rant them in carrying the entire park
| ing costs of their customers. No charge
| whatever is made in this case, and the
| customer Is not required to purchase
| any goods at any given time in order
| TO get this service. The merchants
realize that If they encourage the buy
! ers to come downtown comfortably anc
| conveniently with the assurance tha'
| there will be a place to leave the car
/ this will encourage purchasing, and tne
| increased volume of business viii war
/ rant the overhead.
Garage Rates Expensive.
1T is probable that customers ir
| many communities NOulu oC "A4AAS -
pay a graduated fee for parking pur'
poses. One reason why so many public
garages are empty at the present time
| is that the charge of 81. S1.50 and 81 Is
often more than the traffic Will bear
| The garage having a limited trade feels
| that 1t cannot afford TO make more
reasonable price, but this is looking al
| the problem wrong end foremost. The
| big problem is to get volume business
| If a schedule could be worked out OF
| say, Is cents for two hours and 10 cents
/ for each additional hour. the garage
space would be used in greater quantity
and the proprietors OF these establish
ments would gain not only a large
volume of revenue on parking charges
| but also a line of customers for gaSo-
| line and other motor products.
| Much improvement has been made
| in garage service in the past few years
| Persons are sometimes deferred from
| leaving their cars in garages not solely
because of price. but because of the
time involved In getting the car out ano
because of careleSSneSs on the part OF
attendants with respect 70 getting
grease on the wheel. The use of moderr
construction garages is shortening th'