02-12-2016, 11:31 AM
Parking spot availability is a relatively inexpensive thing to add... to parking garages. The incremental cost is small, when you're already spending 5~10K per spot.
That European town has only had to invest in 3 garages, which provide convenient, but not free, parking.
Uptown, on the other hand, has most of its parking in surface lots. Nearly a dozen or so different lots. These are cheap, and adding counters is likely to cost as much as the parking did in the first place. Not to mention that with the added capital expense, you disincentivise any use of the land that isn't parking.
Parking has to go one of two ways if you don't want chaos: Dumb, plentiful, and free; or smart and expensive. And if Uptown wants to continue to grow, they're going to have to give up on the dream of the first.
That European town has only had to invest in 3 garages, which provide convenient, but not free, parking.
Uptown, on the other hand, has most of its parking in surface lots. Nearly a dozen or so different lots. These are cheap, and adding counters is likely to cost as much as the parking did in the first place. Not to mention that with the added capital expense, you disincentivise any use of the land that isn't parking.
Parking has to go one of two ways if you don't want chaos: Dumb, plentiful, and free; or smart and expensive. And if Uptown wants to continue to grow, they're going to have to give up on the dream of the first.