An increment in Nairobi CBD parking fees some time last year became a deterrent to most car owners who then opted to leave their cars at home.
Not anymore. You could rev your engine back into the city once more to park your car absolutely free! For the whole day.
Taking advantage of the city county staff whose strike enters day eleven Friday, there has never been a better time to park your car right in the heart of the CBD.
Parking revenue dipped
Since the strike began, income from daily parking has been on a downward trend with most motorists having a field day in the Central Business District with most parking attendants and enforcement officers both missing in action.
Daily parking revenue has dipped to an average of Sh947,000 from an average of Sh1.2 million before the strike started.
250K loss A Day!
This means that City Hall is currently losing on average at least Sh253,000 daily from parking with more also lost from parking penalties as the attendants are not present to clamp vehicles that have not paid parking fees.
On Tuesday when the strike kicked off, the county raked in Sh1.15 million as revenue from daily parking out of the total Sh41.4 million collected that day. Parking penalties was Sh6,000.
This then took a hit the following day when the revenue stream recorded Sh996,400, the same to parking penalties which reduced to Sh2,000.
On Thursday, daily parking revenue reduced further to 967,800 with parking penalties going flat recording zero shillings.