It's possible for people to get to work without driving alone. Upon moving into new offices in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, WA, engineering giant CH2M Hill offered its 430 employees $40/month if they walked, bicycled, carpooled or took transit to work; or free parking if they drove alone. The firm's drive-alone rate declined from 89% to 54% in 1990. (Today its drive-alone rate is 38% according to the Seattle Times.) With parking demand down, the firm's problem of too many parkers for too few spaces disappeared. Here are the stats:
Before
After
Drive Alone
89%
54%
Carpool
9%
12%
Bus
1%
17%
Bike/Walk
1%
17%
Yet in mid 2007 with Global Warming hanging like the sword of Damocles over our heads, the City of Santa Cruz is contemplating construction of (yet another) $25 million parking garage for its downtown. Ironically, this monument to the motor vehicle is proposed for the surface parking lot currently used to host the farmers' market where fresh, locally-grown produce is sold each week.
One wonders if City parking planners are paying attention. There are less expensive, more environmentally-friendly ways to solve the perceived parking deficit. Transportation experts agree that most drivers will not get out of their cars if their only alternatives are long waits, long walks, or bicycling in motor vehicle traffic. They also know that commuters are easier to get out of their cars than shoppers. There are many successful programs such as the one cited above that could free up parking spaces for those who really need them. With a bit of funding, we could implement them here.
$25 million could buy a lot of attractive, fun, and convenient transit such as cable-car-like shuttles, personal rapid transit-even tractor-pulled hay wagons and horse-drawn vehicles! These conveyances could connect the downtown with existing beach parking that is under-utilized just when the downtown need is greatest such as at Christmas.
The possibilities are many. It seems it is not a parking deficit the city is dealing with, but rather a deficit of imagination.
