What’s good about paid parking?
It’s like what Yogi Berra said: “Nobody goes there anymore because it's so popular.” When parking is free, people have no incentive to move their cars, so parking spots fill up and never turn over. There’s literally no incentive to move. Which means there’s no space for anyone else to park. That’s when business owners hear from patrons that they are frustrated by no parking.
When the correct price is charged, there will always be a parking spot available when you need it, and more people can access businesses and services. One way to allocate scarce resources is to assign them a cost. This is basic supply and demand economics, and it works. In San Francisco, some metered blocks raise and lower the cost of a parking spot as the block fills up. The cost goes up as parking fills. The cost goes down as more spots become available.
Transportation expert Donald Shoup,made a great study of this under appreciated subject. Here is a primer:
An effective metaphor for understanding how too many cars does not make a great city. We are not endorsing Uber.
Space taken by parking takes opportunity away from many other positive uses, like moving many more people with bus-lanes, walking, and cycling lanes, or for people to just enjoy the space with fewer vehicles travelling past.
The downsides of free parking
No available spots = not getting a parking spot when you need it.
Cars and you driving around the block looking for a spot. 30% of traffic in congested downtowns can be cars cruising for a parking spot.
More congestion, pollution and lost time spent cruising for parking
Safety and congestion issues as deliveries and drop-offs struggle to find dedicated space
Shortage of accessible parking for those with no barrier and other needs
Lack of reliable parking turnover in front of businesses, frustrating patrons
Residential streets near commercial areas become busier
The upsides of pay parking
Improves parking spot turnover, so more people can park.
Reduces traffic with fewer cars circling for a spot, the neighbourhood is more pleasant and healthier.
Improves safety for the people on foot, using transit, or travelling by bike
Encourages people to choose an alternative way to travel.
Businesses serve more customers.
How does pay parking encourage more people to visit a location?
As a city densifies, the limitations of cars become apparent: they take up a lot of space to move relatively few people. Encouraging fewer vehicle trips and more visitors by other means like transit, walking, and cycling means that more people —those who live there, work there, are passing through, or visiting—can enjoy the city and its many businesses.
Is pay parking a cash grab?
The city is not trying to raise money using metered parking. The problem they are trying to solve is scarcity. Pay parking encourages turnover and makes parking available to more people. Business improvement associations in many jurisdictions have initially been against pay parking but then view them favorably after implementation. Both the Lower Lonsdale and Central Lonsdale business improvement areas are in favour of pay parking. While pay parking is not a cash grab per se, it does generate revenue for us all. Those revenues can be directed to general revenues to reduce our taxes, or they could go to improving the parking metered blocks. For example, we could buy street trees, install rain gardens, and pay for sidewalk improvements and other amenities, like benches and covered bus shelters.
Give pay parking a chance
The city’s plan to increase parking controls is a good one, and I hope you’ll give it a chance. Yes, the proposed changes to parking and curbside use may introduce some changes to how you move and use our city. However, paying for a scarce resource can work out better for all of us.
More details on the current parking plans are available here: cnv.org/Curb and on Letstalk here letstalk.cnv.org/curb. Read the staff report in this CNV council agenda pack, which starts on page 70. This is a good summary of the changes and benefits.
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