Parking lots evaporating from downtown
Parking lots are vanishing from downtown as it becomes more profitable to build on the lots instead of parking cars on them. Kristian G.’s piece captures the general ambivalence around the convenience of the lots vs. their ugliness.
Or people could take public transit downtown…
Susana Machado 01:46 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
There are also a lot of underground parkings. Nearly every skyscraper has one….
But yeah, public transit!
Stefan 05:42 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
The end of that article offers the insight (obvious, but in our car-focused society often repressed): economics dictate that if there is a high demand of parking in that area, it is because of even higher demand of that space for other things (apartments, public space etc.).
Land is actually too precious to waste it on occupation by large containers unused 23h in 24h on average. Putting cars underground makes parking much more costly, but that comes much closer to its true price. The ‘convenience’ of parking right in front of owntown stores, implying the inconviencing of all other people there by taking away large spaces from them by having to drive and park, should be worth at least $20 for an afternoon, i guess.
Blork 09:06 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
What I regret is the closing up of open spaces. Density is good in many ways, but it’s best when interspersed with open spaces.
David Tighe 09:32 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
The ambivalence is justified. Personally I detest those open air parkings and am glad they are going. However, Montréal does have to compete with the suburban shopping centres. The best solution is on-street parking with tariffs modulated according to predicted demand. Alternatively, some peripheral facilities in the enormous areas of grunge around the centre with cheap and frequent shuttles. Finally, decent rail transit on weekends with concessionary fares.
Taylor C. Noakes 17:30 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
Here’s a thought:
Why doesn’t the STM or ATM build massive parking garages on the outskirts of the city centre, but adjacent to either a train or Métro station (or both)?
Like at Carrefour Angrignon – massive parking lots but no tunnel connecting the lot at the mall to the Métro station a few hundred meters away. Now what if either agency had a massive multi-level garage built for hundreds if not thousands of cars? Secure locations with security staff, public washrooms, gas bar and service stations nearby, maybe a dépanneur, connected directly to the Métro station. How convenient. How sensible! Or perhaps as a temporary use for the old Turcot yards? Imagine how many cars you park there, and then have shuttle buses bring people to Vendome or Place-Saint-Henri Métro stations. Either way, we need to get those lots out of the city to free up room for development, and replace street side parking spaces with reserved bus or tram or bike lanes.
Our city isn’t really that big when you think about it. Concordia to the Mile End or Plateau can be done in forty minutes at a brisk pace. It really makes me wonder why so many people opt to sit in traffic when using the bus and Métro and Bixi and walking is so cheap and easy. Not to mention that with a smartphone you have all the pertinent real-time information about the system you’ll ever need and the ability to plot your route. The technology will develop and improve far quicker than our roadways and traffic patterns.
If the STM and AMT are to succeed in their mission to encourage widespread use of public transportation, it may be wise to delineate where their systems are to reign supreme. I think we need to conceive of a circle around the most urbanized part of the city and say “inside this circle, using public transit is the easiest way to get around, no question” and then do what’s required to make that a reality. In many respects I think we’re already on the right path, we just need to identify what factors are preventing total use and find solutions to those problems. It’s not rocket-science, just engineering and city-planning.
ant6n 23:37 on 2012/10/27 Permalink
There should be massive Transit Oriented Development near train and metro stations, not massive parking lots. It doesn’t make sense to build a bunch of transit lines outward, and then put parking spaces, just so that people live just out of walking distance of those transit lines.
As for existing houses, there are few spaces around Montreal that could not be served well by a bus(<15min)+train connection, if the train lines were expanded reasonably.
Chris 09:19 on 2012/10/28 Permalink
Taylor, making parking easier just encourages car ownership and car use. Unintended consequences abound in your suggestion I’m afraid.
Kate 10:23 on 2012/10/28 Permalink
Chris, that raises the question of transit at the far end. In town you can usually get a bus to within a block or two of your destination. In the suburbs you’re often stuck with an extra couple of kilometers at the end of the trip, from the bus stop or train station. People toting shopping or children, older and less mobile people, people in a hurry, are not likely to choose to do this on foot and in practice almost nobody is. Even if you could securely lock a bicycle at a train station, let’s admit most people wouldn’t accept that as a solution during wintertime.
I don’t have a solution here except that the STM will have to continue densifying bus options at the periphery. Meanwhile it’s better if someone drives a few km and then takes a train into town than driving 10-15 km and bringing an additional car into the overburdened city centre.
cheese 10:22 on 2012/10/29 Permalink
I think Taylor’s suggestion makes sense, in fact I would have thought that most stations would have parking anyway. Some subway stations in western Toronto do (where I grew up) though they tend to be oversubscribed and the bike parking sucks (or at least did about 10 years ago).
I would think that parking combined with shops and other services is the way to go. Have a car wash service (many underground garages in centre-ville already do this), car mechanic, bike shop, dry cleaning you name it. We could try to do something similar to what Vancouver did with their recent new stations with this kind of mixed use and dense development.