Want Less Traffic and More Parking? Start Charging for It

https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/126598-want-less-traffic-and-more-parking-start-charging-it

by jbrins1 • 3 years ago

12 11 3 years ago

oblib2• 3 years ago

Hmmm... I became a single parent when my daughter was 10 months old and I was 26 years old. There are laws in some States against dropping your sick child off at a daycare provider, and that makes sense, but it also meant I had to stay home with her.

Because of that I was struggling to make ends meet so every dollar I earned was desperately needed. For the most part "Single Moms" are far more common than single fathers and they generally make less money than men so charging a single parent to park a car will take away a lot more for them than most others. And it will cost low income families more than others.

So this sounds like yet another "screw the poor more" idea to me. I'd much rather see a tax on the wealthy to deal with the cost mentioned in this article.

stonogo2• 3 years ago

With centrally managed dynamic pricing, we can subsidize parking directly for low-income people, instead of just subsidizing everyone in the city (which of course leads to crap like Parking Panda, where the rich can just pay someone to squat spots at their convenience).

Further, the places where a system like this is cost effective is a place where the revenue can go toward implementing meaningful public transit. Having a car shouldn't be table stakes for being able to provide for your kid in a metropolitan area.

Justsignedup2• 3 years ago

The reality is that were very far from this infrastructure being practically anywhere but nyc.

Now I agree we need to do something but it'll just end up being an extra tax that will affect the poor more than others. If we don't tax everyone than it defeats the purpose of using taxes to drive behaviors. So we can't subsidize because that defeats the goal.

smileysteve• 3 years ago

"Screw the poor more"

is accurate if you ignore that a large portion of the poor don't have access to a reliable vehicle; and that commutes lead to community segmentation and increase inequality.

And that's part of policy point of this. If traffic is decreased, and premium parking is a luxury; then a community is forced into a more local economy that's less dependent on the cars - be it walkable or usable public transit.

More info https://inequality.org/research/public-transit-inequality/

oblib2• 3 years ago

That only works if the "usable public transit" is in place. And we also have to consider that a large portion of the poor do have a reliable vehicle. I have personally kept a lot of those running for friends and family and the idea of only the wealthy being able to afford a parking space they too subsidize with taxes they pay feels pretty wrong to me.

cafard2• 3 years ago

"While free on-street parking usually stays filled to capacity—if not over capacity—off-street paid parking underperforms."

Oh? Friends of ours used to live on T St. NW in Washington, DC, just east of 16th St. We eventually learned to take a cab there. But my recollection is that off-street paid parking just isn't there in that neighborhood. The downtown office areas of Washington have lots of off-street paid parking, but from what I see there are large swaths of town with strips of restaurants and bars surrounded by residential blocks, and with very little in the way of parking garages.

We did once pay to park to visit our friends on T. But the lot we parked at was dinky.

ttymck• 3 years ago

Your "oh?" suggests you disagree with the assertion, but your anecdotes are in agreement with it.

cafard2• 3 years ago

No; I'm suggesting that the performance of off-street parking is diminished by its scarcity in many of the places I'd care to go.

Want Less Traffic and More Parking? Start Charging for It

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