Video Proof That NYC Will Do Just Fine Without All This Parking

Private car storage just isn't very necessary in the transportation system of a complex, transit-rich city like New York.

Private car parking consumes way more curb space than it should. Image via Luke Ohlson
Private car parking consumes way more curb space than it should. Image via Luke Ohlson

Every time the city devotes more street space to walking, biking, or transit, you can bet someone will complain about losing parking spaces. No matter how many people will have shorter commutes or safer trips around the neighborhood thanks to repurposing parking, there’s a certain line of thought that views car storage as the most important function of city streets. Even though most NYC residents don’t own cars, the parking-above-all perspective still carries a lot of weight with decision makers afraid of ruffling feathers.

But how important is all this street parking, really? What does the city get in return for giving the vast majority of it away for free? Not much, as this video from Transportation Alternatives organizer Luke Ohlson demonstrates.

In time-lapse footage from the 22nd Street and Broadway Citi Bike station, covering an hour of the weekday p.m. rush on June 14, the bike-share docks turn over much more frequently than the adjacent car parking spaces. By my count, there are nearly 200 combined arrivals and departures using the bike-share station in 60 minutes, while six cars come and five cars go over the same time.

The video, which was displayed prominently at last week’s launch of Streetopia, underscores the inefficiency of how NYC allocates street space. Private car storage just isn’t very necessary in the transportation system of a complex, transit-rich city like New York. The big metal machines mostly stay put, consuming space that could be used for wider sidewalks, safer crossings, bike parking, and other uses.

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Mandatory parking minimums raise construction costs, restrict the supply of housing, and help put rents out of reach. Photo: Google Street View

This Week: Rethinking Off-Street Parking in NYC

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Later today, NYU’s Furman Center, the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, and Transportation Alternatives host “The High Cost of Off-Street Parking,” a panel discussion on off-street parking policy. In most of New York City, new development is required to include a minimum number of parking spaces, each of which costs tens of thousands of dollars to build. These parking requirements increase traffic, drive up the cost of construction, and make housing less affordable.

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I remember alternate side of the street parking. It was 1974, and I was underemployed and living on West 22nd Street. My tiny Renault and I were regular participants in the twice-a-week “slide” that Matt Flegenheimer described in his Monday Times story on Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez’s bill to bar police from ticketing alternate-side-parked cars once […]