Parking meters

Fialua Samuelu questioned the need to bring in parking meters where drivers will have to pay to park in the metered zones.

“I feel like everything else will no longer be free in this country,” he said.

A taxi driver of DB Taxis, Jerry Atatia wanted to know why they will have to pay more to the Land Transport Authority which is installing the parking meters.

“I don’t see any difference in the money we already paid the LTA for passing our car licenses and these coins we’ll be putting inside those small machines,” Atatia said.

The reform has long been on the drawing board, according to a release from the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

At a press conference this week, senior LTA senior officials acknowledged that with the Cabinet’s blessing they will now proceed with the preparation and installation of parking meters set to be up and running in 2018.

“Apia is a rapidly growing economy and can quickly turn into a traffic nightmare for the downtown area if traffic is not managed properly,” said LTA’s Assistant Chief Executive Mataafa Sepilini Poufa.