Living in Tokyo, this is one thing I luckily don’t have to deal with: finding a parking space. Like many Tokyo residents, I don’t own a car and, like nearly all workers, I take the train to work. Out of the 2,000 people at my company’s headquarters for example, a mere 6 people drive. They are the top executives and so they have someone actually pick them up and drive them, but those are the only employees that come to the office by car. It is ridiculously unnecessary to drive in Tokyo. Costs for parking and gas are astronomical and traffic, navigation, and overall experience is a time suck and a lesson in futility.
I don’t know if San Francisco would be a better place to drive but they are at least trying to make some improvements with an experiment in smart parking.
It may be easier to get around now that 7,000 parking spaces have been equipped with sensors that provide the data to smartphone apps that tell drivers when spaces are open. A nice description of the service can be found on sfpark.org. This will hopefully decrease the non-stop circling that can ensue when searching for an open parking meter space. In addition, a congestion pricing model similar to those being implemented on highways will charge more to park at local attractions and hot spots during peak times. This acts as a disincentive for people to drive or encourages them to park on quieter streets. UCLA professor Donald Shoup (also known as the “prophet of parking”) has estimated that 1/3 of the traffic on downtown streets is due to drivers looking for parking spots. What a waste in time and gas!
While mass adoption of mass transit would be a another way to solve some of these problems, this smart parking tactic is more easily and quickly able to be implemented and requires less behavioral change. Los Angeles is the next of the trial cities, with Washington, DC and New York on the drawing board after that.
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