parking
Parking, like traffic, is a recurring theme in local conversation about growth and development. We often hear from some community members that there is nowhere to park in downtown Chapel Hill/Carrboro, that a lack of parking is hurting local businesses, and that the parking minimums required for the Ephesus-Fordham renewal district are insufficient.
But the facts simply don’t support these claims. The reality is that providing more parking – especially surface parking – is fundamentally incompatible with urban land uses.*
Numerous urban planning scholars have researched parking, and their research has consistently confirmed that more parking is not desirable on any metric – unless, that is, you want more people to drive and create more traffic.
According to the Daily Tar Heel, UNC is going to start charging for evening parking this fall. All students will shoulder this cost as an annual $10.40 charge to their student fees. Non-affliated visitors to UNC will pay $2/evening. Nighttime employees will pay an annual fee between $227 (for those with an income of less than $25K/year) to $390 (for those making over $100K/year), which is the same price as daytime permits.
In the article, UNC DPS spokesman Randy Young says:
“The folks who are only working at night, their shift is basically the same as people who work during the day, except that traditionally, they’ve been receiving free parking,” he said. “So they would pay for their parking at night, for their nighttime work, the same way employees during the day have to. In the past, daytime parking permits have essentially subsidized those who park at night.”
After reading yet another article about the parking "problem" in downtown Carrboro/Chapel Hill, I thought it'd be worth revisiting solutions to this problem. (Or maybe non-problem, I've never had trouble parking in either town, so I don't really know what people are talking about, unless their definition of parking is parking within a 1/10th mile of the business/restaurant they wish to visit).
It's the age old debate. At least around these parts.
Which Town parking policy is the best idea? Paid parking in Chapel Hill or free parking in Carrboro? Which policy is working better?
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/02/quickpay-turns-your-smartphone-into-a-parking-attendant/
The biggest hassle in using the town lots, besides finding a space, is paying. With few pay stations there's almost always a line. This would be a lot quicker and easier, and even if it attracted only 25% of parkers that would lessen the line to pay.
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