Quote:
Originally Posted by whatnext
You're in a condo? Go count the amount of cars. The condos I've been in downtown have a lot of vehicles in them. Maybe you're right and because this is close to downtown they won't but I don't see why it would be different from the building on Marinaside I was in last week which is just as close. Sure, maybe the fact Senakw doesn't provide the spaces will make the difference and residents won't just clog nearby streets or rent private parking. Then again, maybe not.
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There are two factors at play here. First, the location of the development should mean that the demand for private vehicle usage will be lower. Second, the small number of underground spaces in the development and curbside spots in the surrounding neighbourhood will constrain the supply of parking spots.
Plenty of buildings have the first of these factors. The condos in Downtown Vancouver with 1+ parking spots for every unit is one example. These residents can walk or bike for just about every essential trip, yet many of them choose to own a car for one reason or another. Another example is Suburban town centres like Metrotown or Brentwood, where many of the residents could take transit to work but they choose to own and drive a car instead. For both of these situations the decision whether or not to own a car is fairly frictionless. Sure, you need to pay your annual insurance bill, but the day-to-day act of owning a car is a breeze since you never need to move you car for street cleaning, never need to plug the meter, don't lose sleep over a drunk driver taking your mirror off, etc. You simply park your car underground and forget about it.
The second factor, constrained supply, is a lot more rare in Vancouver. Since every new build for quite some time has had to comply with parking minimums you won't find a lack of supply in new neighbourhoods or infill projects. However, older neighbourhoods have plenty of walkup apartments where there isn't an assigned spot for every unit. These neighbourhoods aren't bursting at the seams with cars. And if they are, market forces such as the cost of a residential permit or the price of private parking could be used to bring demand back in-line with supply.
This is why I think the West End is a very good parallel for Senakw. The West End is close enough to all the essentials and downtown that most residents hardly drive at all. Also, I think a proper study would find that the West End has far fewer parking spots that it does residents. Because of this lack of supply, an annual neighbourhood parking permit for the West End costs 10x what a permit for almost any other neighbourhood costs.
I think it is absolutely bonkers that we live in a part of the world that goes gaga for the free market, but the one thing that is consistently handed out for free or at a cost well below market value is parking spots. Let's let the free market handle all of the parking issues. There will be a limited supply of assigned stalls, curbside spots, and private parking lots, so the price will eventually reach equilibrium. Let's not pretend the parking situation around this development will every be so dire that it would be economical for Concord to turn the Molson brewery into one giant surface parking lot.
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