Parking sites, as well as the shortage and the cost thereof, have created a site for any opinion.
Parking problems have elicited wide comment in the local media in Stellenbosch for the past weeks. This has created a site for numerous opinions, with many believing the parking places are insufficient and parking costs too high. With reference to these complaints, among others also from people who are unhappy about not being able to park on sidewalks without paying, a long-time resident of Stellenbosch and member of the Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation, writes that the most general complaints, shortage and cost, are inherently contradictory. Does this once more confirm the findings of Garrett Hardin and others who have indicated that when an asset is regarded as a community asset, individual self-interest and personal convenience will mostly undermine the collective long-term interest through over exploitation?
The efforts by the Stellenbosch Municipality to manage parking in the town centre now falls within the framework of current good practice. It deserves the support of the residents, in the full knowledge of the enormity of the town’s challenges around traffic and that much still needs to be done towards planning and adequate management for the long term.