The next time merchants in your downtown demand another parking garage because of the parking “shortfall” you can recommend a radically simple solution: Shrink the size of the parking stall.
Whereas the size of a standard American parallel-parking spot is 23 to 24′ long, in the UK it is more like 20′. In France (and much of continental Europe) it is 18′.
Just imagine if the parking spots in crowded downtown areas were reduced by 6′ — that increases parking utilization by a whopping 25%.
Oh, but what about the poor SUV drivers who can’t fit their Lincoln Navigator into an 18′ stall? Well, so what? Why should cities reduce their parking supply by 1/4 to accommodate oversized SUV’s? And in any case, anyone who can afford to gas up an SUV can pay to park their vehicle in an offstreet garage.
[...] Secretary Ray LaHood will get “four more years” like President Obama. And Systemic Failure suggests communities “right-size” their parking infrastructure before considering any [...]
Not sure where I read this, but you can stop painting parking spaces. When you let drivers park their own cars, they squeeze in to around 18 foot spaces. Single meters (that generate tickets) make this possible; they’re called muni-meters in New York City.
I see the opposite effect where I live. Unmarked spaces are really inefficiently used in lower density areas, and people will split space for three spaces into two. Marking spaces is the way to go if you want to maximize efficiency. An 8′x’22′ space is plenty good in the US.
If your customer base has a lot of SUV’s in it, then smaller spaces will simply lead to more private property damage. A few years ago, I couldn’t figure out why I kept noticing SUV’s in the DC area equipped with offroad bushwhacking grill and bumper packages. Then I realized these were to protect their vehicles from full-contact parallel parkers.
You must plan for parking for SUV’s because half of all cars sold in the USA are SUVs. Without including them in the process leaves you with no parking plan, just ideological nonsense. Business outlets who want customers will see that this is rejected.
The introduction of Muni-meters in NYC should over time increase the supply of spots and make for a more efficient use of the space. A typical avenue block-front is two hundred sixty feet. After allocation of space for roadway, walkway and fire hydrant(optional), you could readily accommodate 8-9 meters. With a Muni-meter, and no defined spacing space allocation, some 10-11 cars of average length can be accommodated. Longer vehicles would lower this number. Remember, not all SUVs are overly long.
Also not all commercial districts have off-street parking available. That would require eliminating commercial or residential property. Do you advocate for that?
“not all commercial districts have off-street parking available.”
Really? Even mid-town Manhattan has off-street parking. SF, LA, PDX all have off-street parking in every commercial district. Are you thinking of districts outside of the U.S.A?
He’s thinking of smaller towns and “secondary” commercial districts.
It’s not just SUVs, mind. Lincoln Town Cars are longer. And the Tesla Model S is a very long car as well, speaking of cars which don’t cost much to refuel. (Though if you can afford one of those, you can afford garage parking, assuming it exists.)