Meanwhile the mayor of my city removed all the free parking downtown. Now the entire oldtown area is struggling to keep afloat because no one here can afford to hang out in an expensive boutique shop or hipster bar and pay for parking while they do it.
Just putting up parking fees everywhere - not great.
Honestly, this can be good too. I’ve seen many places where parking is “free” and the end result is that there isn’t any parking available other than expensive private lots. The city is robbing itself then: It’s diverting the revenue from parking into private hands, which also encourages private parking lots which are an urban blight, and making it less convenient and affordable for business customers while a handful of people squat on the free parking all-day every-day.
Everybody would be happier if the street had affordably-priced meters. Everybody except for the people who are using that street-side parking all-day every-day, but those people are basically poaching very limited and valuable land from the municipality.
Meanwhile the mayor of my city removed all the free parking downtown. Now the entire oldtown area is struggling to keep afloat because no one here can afford to hang out in an expensive boutique shop or hipster bar and pay for parking while they do it.
Removing parking to improve accessibility for bicycles, transit, and pedestrians - great.
Just putting up parking fees everywhere - not great.
Honestly, this can be good too. I’ve seen many places where parking is “free” and the end result is that there isn’t any parking available other than expensive private lots. The city is robbing itself then: It’s diverting the revenue from parking into private hands, which also encourages private parking lots which are an urban blight, and making it less convenient and affordable for business customers while a handful of people squat on the free parking all-day every-day.
Everybody would be happier if the street had affordably-priced meters. Everybody except for the people who are using that street-side parking all-day every-day, but those people are basically poaching very limited and valuable land from the municipality.