A Solution to the Parking Problem
Posted on Jul 13, 2009 - 11:00pm by Everitt Mickey in Economy, Hours of Service, Politics, Trucking
Pay attention Virginia.
You say you have a budget crisis? You say that closing rest stops on the interstates will free up much needed cash to help with the budget crisis?
What have you been smoking? What ever it is stop California from smoking the same stuff, or Michigan, or.other states.
I swear. A two year old with a bag of marbles and a handful of gumdrops knows more about finance than some states. It appears so anyway.
Listen up. I have a suggestion that will provide an increase in state revenue AND improve safety on the highways, for the general public and truckers.
The only problem is that it’s going to seriously annoy some lobbyists. SERIOUSLY annoy. I don’t know for a fact but I assume there’s an association of truck stops which lobbies congress to support their best interests. Doesn’t any business now days have such an organization? These people are going to hate my suggestion.
The suggestion? Open Interstate Rest Areas to Commercialization. Furthermore. Auction off the rights to the highest bidder.
Problem solved. All the State of Virginia (and/or California, Michigan, et al) has to do is count the money.
And listen to the complaining and whining of local truck stops who found it oh, so hard, and expensive, to do things like.
Keep their parking lots: pothole, lotlizard ,drug dealer , panhandler, and other kinds of trash, free, reasonably easy to get into, and safe to park in.
Provide reasonable services at sorta/kinda reasonable rates. (hey, being truckers we expect to be lied to and ripped off. It’s part of the job. But get real ok? Enough is enough)
Just a thought Virginia (and you other states) but the longer you wait, the more money you don’t get.
It might be time to specialize
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That’s an excellent idea, and one I’ve wondered about for years. I don’t even think it has to piss off the t/s owners. After all, they have the most experience with this type of business, and the bidding could be open to them.
These plazas should be located in the median, a la KS Turnpike style. This would encourage larger lots since the space is not used otherwise, and therefore, would be very cheap. They would just need to pick wide spots. It would also raise the value of the location to the prospective business owner because they would have access to both directions of traffic.
Cleaning of the lot, snow removal, and landscaping should be done by a separate entity than the business in the plaza/fuel island. This would make the budget for these activities dedicated and undilutable.
The Truck stop lobbying group is NATSO-and they HATE the idea of commercializing rest areas as they think they’ll lose business. As a matter of fact, Virginia is discussing commercializing rest areas to some extent. If they’re going to have food service, other than just vending machines, somebody has to build the facilities-I think that may be one of the hang-ups. Since some transportation funds are earmarked for rest areas, I bet states are worried they’ll lose some funding. NATSO seems willing to take on the task but wants someone else to pay for the infrastructure to commercialize them. So, it appears to be a stand-off: NATSO wants to keep rest areas from being commercialized unless they can make the $$ off it without any outlay on their part. It’s politics as usual-again!
Hey Everitt… great idea but what do we know, we are truck drivers… Oh and a correction… they are no longer Truck Stops… they are Travel Centers that now cater to 4 wheelers…. not the big rigs! Besides, at the rate that the states are going at it…EVERY big road is going to be a Toll Road…. so these abandoned Rest Areas could soon become Toll Plazas!