A raft of innovative new measures, including a new micro parking scheme and hyperlocal currency, are currently being considered to boost trade and quantitatively ease the parking crisis at the Triangle, bitternepark.info has learned.

 

Parking chiefs and iJourney specialists hope to roll out a pioneering new micro parking scheme based on the successful, if controversial, ‘Fa Roil Pol’ Chinese model.

And if it goes ahead, it could cure The Triangle’s parking headaches in one fell swoop, New Southampton Partnership sources suggest.

It seems the saturated on-street parking situation will be easily dealt with by creating many more, slightly narrower (1.7 metre-wide) bays, at right angles to the pavement, with a maximum one-minute wait time – and with no return within five minutes.

The new parking bays are expected to decrease to around 1.6 metres at peak times.

Exhilarating

“Not only will new smaller bays encourage Bitterne Parkers to ditch their gas guzzlers and consider using smaller eco alternatives, we could see exhilarating new forms of rapid street trading to serve those using the new one-minute slots,” claimed a Partnership spokesperson.

Beauty treatments

“For example while you may not be able to buy all your shopping in one go, on the plus side you’ll be able to return after just five minutes, to – swiftly – pick up the next few ingredients for your evening meal. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw radical new one-minute beauty treatments emerging, or even traders approaching parking cars with super-fast food. Or bric-a-brac.”

BITT COINS

Alongside the new parking initiative, we understand Bitterne Park could soon be joining the handful of exclusive cities around the world, including Calgary, Philadelphia and Bristol, that issue their own currency, which can only be spent locally.

Locally minted

New triangular-shaped, organic and locally-minted Bitterne Park coins, known as BITT COINS, bearing the clock face on one side and a Riverside swan’s head on the reverse, will be accepted by “many” Triangle outlets – as well as in thirty-five new micro parking meters which are in the process of being adapted to take the new currency.

bitternepark.info says: Always take care when parking or using associated equipment such as parking meters.

Artwork: L Weedy
Parking meter image based on an orginal photo used under a CC2 licence by Bruce Fingerhood