My friend Paul Barter over at “Reinventing Parking” has done a piece on “Spillover Parking.” You can read it here.
Paul concerns himself with the fact that parking planners are worried about “spillover” or “nuisance parking” He notes that they are different. And he’s right. but also comments that Shoupistas really don’t seem too concerned about this issue at all.
The photo he uses looks like it came from a parking lot near a hospital and the signage is there to scare off those not patients, nurses, and doctors. This is appropriate since much of the concern about this topic originated, I think, with hospitals in the UK. Local authorities began to charge and enforce their center city parking regulations, and visitors to those areas poached free parking off the hospitals. The problem became so severe ambulances couldn’t reach the emergency room doors.
The solution was simple. Charge for parking at the hospital. When they did, the problem just went away. Of course the patients screamed, but they had a place to park. The NHS has taken a number of strong hits about charging for parking because they quickly learned that their new rules generated a lot of money and started using parking as a revenue generator and not an amenity for patients who drive.
Validation programs have solved the parking problems of shopping centers that are located near office complexes that charge a bundle for their parking. In Century City, Los Angeles, the shopping center was losing business because their shoppers could find no space as it was taken by office workers who didn’t want to pay $300 a month to park under their buildings nearby.
A judicious program of charging, first and second hour free programs, and validation (for restaurants and theaters) solved the problem. A few have to pay, but if they purchase something at a store or go to a movie, the amount is negligible. The marketplace takes care of the problem and local employees find it cheaper and easier to buy permits in their buildings.
Planners who use this “nuisance” or “spillover” parking to set parking requirements simply need to let the marketplace work. Owners will solve the problem with programs like the one in Century City.
Paul reports that India is starting down that “parking requirement” slippery slope and have already seen problems with developers changing their minds when they have seen the added expense of huge, and often unnecessary, parking facilities.
JVH
