Author Topic: More parking availability means more car use?  (Read 3016 times)

More parking availability means more car use?
« on: 08 August, 2017, 10:59:37 am »
Can anyone point me to any peer-reviewed papers that show that increasing the amount of available parking will increase the amount of car use/increase amount of congestion.

There's a planning application close by - which I'm broadly in favour of, except as part of it they want to rip up more green to add car parking spaces; and I'd like to make a decent fist of objecting.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #1 on: 08 August, 2017, 11:07:04 am »
Oh, they're* so fond of doing that.  One of the most pleasant cafés in our area was spoilt when the council felled shade trees to provide temporary parking for plant during roadworks.

*councils in general
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #2 on: 08 August, 2017, 12:34:26 pm »
Can anyone point me to any peer-reviewed papers that show that increasing the amount of available parking will increase the amount of car use/increase amount of congestion.

There's a planning application close by - which I'm broadly in favour of, except as part of it they want to rip up more green to add car parking spaces; and I'd like to make a decent fist of objecting.

You'll probably find that they've only put that in to fulfil the requirements of the council's local plan. Developers don't add extra parking out of choice, it costs them money and doesn't earn anything.
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

ian

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #3 on: 08 August, 2017, 05:52:41 pm »
Yes, it's usually too few parking spaces that stymie planning permission. As said, any 'sensible' developer will squeeze in as many houses as they can rather than parking spaces, of which they'll add the minimum required. Which is why, if you look at any new development, there are cars parked over every pavement and on every corner, and – well – everywhere.

I can't be bothered looking for a study, but more parking spaces is always going to mean more cars.

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #4 on: 08 August, 2017, 07:36:38 pm »
There was something in the Economist about the cost of parking in cities and the various externalities thereof a month or so ago, wasn't there? I think there were references to various researchers' pieces in there.

ian

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #5 on: 09 August, 2017, 10:51:58 am »
The overall costs to all of car-facilitated sprawl are huge and there's several papers on that. I doubt that kind of thing figures in a local council planning decision though. Unfortunately.

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #6 on: 09 August, 2017, 11:10:06 am »
Back in 2011, a friend bought an apartment, off-plan, in a new tower block in Ilford.
His Mum, who doesn't drive, bought a car parking space in the basement of that block.
As an investment.
If memory serves, it was something like £11K
Pete doesn't have a car either.
Just sayin'...


Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #8 on: 13 August, 2017, 11:30:36 am »
Back in 2011, a friend bought an apartment, off-plan, in a new tower block in Ilford.
His Mum, who doesn't drive, bought a car parking space in the basement of that block.
As an investment.
If memory serves, it was something like £11K
Pete doesn't have a car either.
Just sayin'...

Friend of ours was looking at a new build of "Executive" 4 bedroom homes

When it came to car parking there was a 4 foot "layback" and a tiny garage. When they queried this the sales people came up with the fact that obstructing the pavement was not a real life problem so parking in their "Drive" was fine

Secondly their tiny garage was designed for a City Car as this was what "Executives" drive these days


Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #9 on: 13 August, 2017, 06:53:06 pm »
We're shortly re-locating to new-build offices out of town.
In this case, the cooncil were  using the planning process to*limit* the parking spaced available, to less than would traditionally have been provided.
This was to encourage car-sharing, public transport etc.

However, our workforce has been so cut by the oil price slump that there's now 2 empty floors in the new office, and parking space for everyone!

There's decent cycle provision too.

ian

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #10 on: 15 August, 2017, 05:25:44 pm »
Back in 2011, a friend bought an apartment, off-plan, in a new tower block in Ilford.
His Mum, who doesn't drive, bought a car parking space in the basement of that block.
As an investment.
If memory serves, it was something like £11K
Pete doesn't have a car either.
Just sayin'...

Friend of ours was looking at a new build of "Executive" 4 bedroom homes

When it came to car parking there was a 4 foot "layback" and a tiny garage. When they queried this the sales people came up with the fact that obstructing the pavement was not a real life problem so parking in their "Drive" was fine

Secondly their tiny garage was designed for a City Car as this was what "Executives" drive these days

I used to, for my extensive sins, live in a four bedroom 'executive home' in the sort of development that had gates to keep the unwashed masses out (utter waste of time, the neighbours would buzz in anyone under the vaguest pretext). Each of the twelve houses had a single dedicated parking space (plus there were 8 'guest' spaces, not one of which was ever used by a guest). I am sure I mentioned who refereed all those parking disputes. Lordy, must I have sinned in a previous life.

People will use as much parking space as they can, even if it's not a parking space. In the end, after it became clear that reason would never prevail, we simply blocked off everywhere we didn't want people to park with large planters anchored into the ground. That didn't please the houses with several cars, of course, but then as I may have pointed out, they did buy a house that clearly had a single parking space and if they didn't like it we'd make those guest spaces just that, not additional spaces for residents. For the record, this was south London, 8 minutes walk from the nearest mainline station, three major bus routes at the end of the road, another train/tram station 10 minutes walk.

Frankly, if people don't have anywhere to park their car, they have two options, move to somewhere that has additional parking or get rid of a car. When we moved, every new build estate we looked at had terrible car parking problems from the get-go and in some cases, that was without even full occupancy.

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #11 on: 16 August, 2017, 05:14:38 pm »
York's new 'student village' appears not to have any car parking. 

http://www.selectproperty.com/vita-student/vita-student-village-york/

Move Faster and Bake Things

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #12 on: 17 August, 2017, 12:19:22 am »
York's new 'student village' appears not to have any car parking. 

http://www.selectproperty.com/vita-student/vita-student-village-york/

It's okay, they'll just plonk them outside the CrinklyDen.

Re: More parking availability means more car use?
« Reply #13 on: 17 August, 2017, 06:23:05 am »
York's new 'student village' appears not to have any car parking. 

http://www.selectproperty.com/vita-student/vita-student-village-york/

It's okay, they'll just plonk them outside the CrinklyDen.

Southampton used to ban cars and issue the students with passes for Uni-Link