Parking Problems

Hot Rods and Racing Cars #60
November 1962

Each medium of transportation involves three necessary elements, without which it cannot operate effectively: the vehicle, the right-of-way, and the terminal. For water transportation these essentials consist of the vessels, waterways, and harbor facilities. For railroad transportation it consists of trains, tracks, and stations. For air transportation it consists of planes, airways, and airports. Similarly, the elements of motor transportation are the vehicle, the road and a place to park at the end of the trip.

Motor vehicle parking facilities are still largely inadequate today, despite the relatively recent recognition that an overall service from origin to destination is necessary for the full realization of the speed, economy, convenience of modern highway service. The motor vehicle-particularly the passenger car-is valuable because it is convenient. But its worth is very much diminished if the driver cannot end his trip where he wants to, for lack of a parking space. Surveys in many urban areas indicate that provision for additional parking at the curb is impossible. Simply put, that constitutes the parking problem.

They may be stated in another way in relation to economics. Purchasing power that actually is expended determines the importance of a business district. Increasing number of shoppers, pleasure seekers, workers, and those seeking professional and other services travel to their destination by motor vehicle.

The extent, therefore, of the sales made in a given area, will depend increasingly upon the capacity of that area to absorb the motor vehicles that seek parking facilities therein. The business districts that do more business will be those that supply facilities to accommodate more and more vehicles. This should be a matter of great concern to every community. Population in urban areas have increased at a faster rate than those in rural areas during the last 15 years. Considerable shifts in urban population have taken place, including the development of residential sections of considerable size in adjacent suburban areas. This increase and shift in population has resulted in an increase in motor vehicle ownership and usage complicating traffic conditions. Other urban engineering and planning problems and responsibilities have increased at the same time.

The attraction of this increased population to the city's downtown area, to suburban shopping area, and to centers of employment, and the substantial numbers of people using their autos to travel to these points has created problems. In the use of existing highways and in the planning of more adequate new facilities, one of the specific problems and responsibilities under these conditions is the parking of motor vehicles. Full utilization of streets for traffic movement cannot be utilized unless there is adequate and easily accessible parking space available for traffic having destinations in the problem area.

There is a story about a parking situation I once faced that I have often told and retold. Here it is: On Friday nights I do my pistol instruction at our local armory. I keep my car in a parking lot. My friend sat next to me and we made the trip to the armory which was not too far away. But we just couldn't find a parking space. We drove around the block twice and not an inch of space could be spotted. So we headed north looking for some convenient place to park the car. And when we finally found it—we were outside of my own home!

Parking is a problem of the motorist who drives the car, of the business man who depends on the population for his livelihood and of city officials responsible for city government. There has been an almost universal decline in land values within the older and larger commercial centers. As while it is unreasonable to attribute the decline to any single cause, the evidence indicates one important fact. That a contributing factor is the inability of the area to discharge its transportation responsibilities. And this means in whatever volume they may be in a manner, satisfactory to persons who seek to do business therein. To be easily accessible to the many persons who would shop or do business there, transit, traffic, and parking conditions should be attractive.

Finally, the impact of more and more vehicles attempting to move and park in limited space has resulted in a crippling congestion, with its attendant toll of motor vehicle accidents, inconveniences, and high operating costs. Unless the street congestion is releived, the advantages of a comparatively compact area intensively developed as a business district will be lost.

The functions of the downtown area or any outlying business section of a city vary considerably with the size of the city, and nature of its economic activities. The success or prosperity which any particular area enjoys is derived from a combination of elements. Not one of which can be considered independently of the others. Accessibility to the area and to individual buildings in the area is of primary importance, and transit service and street systems are part of the planning for adequate accessibility.

Since many people want to come to these areas in private cars there must be some provision for the parking of these cars in a reasonable relation to transit service, building usage and street traffic. Now it may be that you have some ideas. Given a free hand you might be able to help solve these problems. There are marking lots in which the person coming to a given area can park his car. Some of these are privately owned. Some are owned by the municipality. In some cases there are attendants who check in the car and give you a receipt. In other cases there are meters, in which you insert your coin for a given period of time.

It is important to see that in these types of parking lots the aim is really a short timed parking privilege, so that the person can come to the area, park the car, shop and then leave. This is what it known as "Transient Trade." It is not designed for the person who wants to leave his car there day in and day out.

However if land is expensive it is difficult to make this a paying proposition, and yet keep the parking fee down to a reasonable level. Therefore some communities and large cities have erected large municipal garages upon these areas. At present one is going up not far from where I live. More cars can thus be parked, and a larger income sufficient to pay the carrying charges be assured. However in the outlying districts where new shopping centers are being built, space area is reserved for the parking of a sufficient number of cars. In fact, without the car, these areas could not survive economically. Because curb parking would be impracticable to handle the number of cars coming into the area. Even the roof area is being utilized as a parking space for these cars.

When new apartment houses are erected they now include garage space for the tenants. If you build such an apartment house without a garage you immediately create an additional parking problem. If you have 120 tenants and 100 of them have cars-where do they park their cars? Watch people as they spend valuable time looking for that prized bit of parking space. This is a good tendency and definitely should be encouraged.

One excellent idea was to make use of a park in a congested area of town. The park surface itself was not touched, but underneath the park a municipal parking garage was established. To build this type of garage is expensive. But it does solve part of the problem involved in getting cars away from trying to double park and thus creating dangerous traffic situations.

Garages with mechanical parking equipment of one type or another have appeared from time to time for many years. But only since World War II have designs offered promise of meeting the requirements of speed, efficiency, and economy to handle today's heavy parking demand. The parking meter was designed as a mechanism to reduce overtime parking at the curb, to increase parking turnover, and to facilitate the enforcement of parking regulations. That the meter has accomplished these basic functions is attested to, by its use in an increasing number of cities.

Who knows? Maybe you will have something new in a parking idea. Restaurants in a busy section of the town faced a peculiar problem. Their lunch time trade was from the vicinity. But their supper trade came from outlying areas. Without a place to park the car-the driver and his family could not use the restaurant. So the owners of the restaurant came up with a simple idea. You parked your car in a nearby parking place. They paid the bill. This made everyone happy.

In my home city we have a large subway system. Should they ever give it up-it would be a natural for an underground garage. Got a better idea?