Re: North-South Rail Link
Well to take an example from the past, there was a time when it was illegal to park overnight on the street in NYC, and everyone was expected to rent or own a garage space. Eventually people started disregarding the law so much that the city gave up and permitted street parking. But garage parking is a lot more space efficient than street parking. But it's also a lot more expensive to build and provision. So there's a lot of political pressure.
I believe Tokyo provides a nice example of a city that held firm to its parking policy and made pretty creative and effective use of space for those who wished to own a car. I don't know if we're politically capable of adopting their methods though, e.g. the proof-of-parking requirement and an on-street parking ban in nearly all districts.
And of course in both NYC and Tokyo the rate of car ownership per capita is much much lower than elsewhere. Because even with clever space usage, geometry still rules.
I'm speaking from personal experience when I say that I hear NIMBYs try to wrangle over parking requirements. I'm sure they would find other excuses too, but it is a pretty big bone of contention in meetings. I've read that blog article and others, and I'm a fan of more efficient use of existing supply, and I always have my eye out for a better answer but how do you get them implemented? That's the real difficulty.
Well to take an example from the past, there was a time when it was illegal to park overnight on the street in NYC, and everyone was expected to rent or own a garage space. Eventually people started disregarding the law so much that the city gave up and permitted street parking. But garage parking is a lot more space efficient than street parking. But it's also a lot more expensive to build and provision. So there's a lot of political pressure.
I believe Tokyo provides a nice example of a city that held firm to its parking policy and made pretty creative and effective use of space for those who wished to own a car. I don't know if we're politically capable of adopting their methods though, e.g. the proof-of-parking requirement and an on-street parking ban in nearly all districts.
And of course in both NYC and Tokyo the rate of car ownership per capita is much much lower than elsewhere. Because even with clever space usage, geometry still rules.
I'm speaking from personal experience when I say that I hear NIMBYs try to wrangle over parking requirements. I'm sure they would find other excuses too, but it is a pretty big bone of contention in meetings. I've read that blog article and others, and I'm a fan of more efficient use of existing supply, and I always have my eye out for a better answer but how do you get them implemented? That's the real difficulty.
